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MORAL EDUCATION 



AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION 



BY 

WILLIAM T. WHITNEY, Pd.D., Ph.D. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, PORT CHESTER, NEW YORK 



LEROY PHILLIPS 
BOSTON 






COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY 
WILLIAM T. WHITNEY 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



NOV -8 1915 
©CI.A416312 



PREFACE 

The Federal and State Constitutions forbid that in- 
struction in rehgion shall be given in the public schools. 
They permit, however, moral instruction. The moral 
instruction allov^ed in the schools may be given as 
courses in ethics or moral training, and ethical judg- 
ments may be formed from the study of the several 
subjects contained in the school curriculum. It is also 
believed that moral training is received as a result of 
the habits formed in foUov^ing the prescribed school 
life and its v^ork. 

It is acknov^ledged, hov^ever, that such training and 
instruction is incidental, and like the incidental method 
of teaching spelling, the results secured are not sat- 
isfactory. Morality in its practical sense is the con- 
duct of the individual in society. Moral instruction 
and moral training, therefore, must be social and must 
be rooted in the social instincts if right motives and 
right conduct result. The emphasis must be placed 
upon the ideal and the idea of service. 

There are two distinct phases of moral education 
— moral training and moral instruction. Moral train- 
ing is the more important in the early life of the in- 
dividual. Moral instruction should create right ideals, 
provoke the right attitude, and result in habits of 
right action through opportunity given by the organi- 
zation of the school and the recitation to provide that 

[iii] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

call for the right response. The school must also co- 
operate with every community agency and movement 
for social betterment. If it does not cooperate with 
the home and the community life, its work for build- 
ing character will go for naught. 

The work in moral training and instruction in the 
schools is generally recognized as inadequate. This 
is due to the fact that the present generation of 
parents are themselves somewhat struck with a moral 
poverty that limits the home in this important work. 
Too often the home has not received the proper reli- 
gious and moral training that it should have. 

The major part of the burden seems to fall to-day 
upon the pubHc school, and if the public school is to 
measure to the responsibility thus thrust upon it, it 
must do something more than use the incidental method 
which allows the work of the school and the curric- 
ulum to stand for moral instruction and moral train- 
ing. It must provide for a definite period in which 
instruction is given. It must reorganize its recitation 
in order to admit of moral training. It must be care- 
ful to supplement the teachings of the home and the 
church, and in no way undermine their influence and 
authority. 

If character is the supreme goal of teaching, of in- 
struction, and of training, the school must organize its 
forces and its material to meet this idea. That char- 
acter is the ideal of teaching, of training, and of edu- 
cation has long been recognized. Daniel Webster 
stated in his oration on the first settlement of New 
England : " Our ancestors founded their government 

[iv] 



PREFACE 

on morality and religious sentiment. They were 
brought hither by their high veneration of the Chris- 
tian religion. They journeyed by its light and labored 
in its hope. They sought to incorporate it with the 
elements of their society, and to diffuse its influences 
through all their institutions, civil, political, social, and 
educational." 

Benjamin Franklin, in his address to President 
Washington in the Convention which framed our 
national constitution, used these words : " I have lived 
a long time, and the longer I live the more convinc- 
ing proofs I see of this truth — that God governs in 
the affairs of men. We have been assured, Sir, 
in the Sacred Writings, that ' except the Lord build 
the house they labor in vain that build it.' I firmly 
believe this, and I also believe that without His con- 
curring aid we shall succeed in this political building 
no better than the builders of Babel." 

Washington, in his farewell address, recorded his 
purest patriotism, his ripest judgment, and his deepest 
convictions, and emphasized his tenderest concern for 
the nation's welfare, when he said: "Of all disposi- 
tions and habits which lead to political prosperity, re- 
ligion and morality are indispensable supports. Rea- 
son and experience both forbid us to expect that 
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious 
principles." 

Lincoln, in many of his utterances, expresses the 
same convictions. All right thinking people to-day are 
concerned in having these convictions clear and strong 
and permanently fixed in the life of the people of the 

[v] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

land, and embodied in the instruction and training 
given the young in the greatest pubHc institution — the 
public school. 

With these thoughts in mind an attempt was made 
to determine, if possible, the relation existing between 
moral and religious instruction and training and actual 
every-day conduct on the part of boys and girls re- 
ceiving such instruction and attending the public 
schools. An experimental investigation was made. 
Si^ hundred boys and six hundred girls were care- 
fully studied for a period of five years. The work 
was interesting, but long and laborious. If moral in- 
struction influences conduct, what is its effect? How 
is it shown? Is the daily life affected by such training? 
This investigation attempts to answer in a quantitative 
way all such questions. 

WILLIAM T. WHITNEY 



[vi] 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Demand for Moral Education .... i 

11. An Investigation 5 

III. The Home 36 

IV. The Method 41 

V. The Teacher and Moral Instruction ... 48 

VI. The Physical Life 54 

VII. Manners and Morals 59 

VIII. The Recitation as a Medium for Moral In- 
struction 63 

IX. Religion and Morality jj 

X. The Content of Moral Education .... 86 

XL What Public Schools Have Done .... 98 

INDEX . . . . ' 105 



Vll 



I 



MORAL EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 
THE DEMAND FOR MORAL EDUCATION 

Demand for Moral Education. " The question of 
moral education is the heart of the modern educational 
problem." This statement has been made by prac- 
tically every sound teacher and thinker who has had 
the welfare of humanity at heart. The demand for 
moral training and instruction in the public schools is 
becoming more determined and persistent. The im- 
portance of moral training has long been recognized. 
Its value for the individual and society is receiving the 
attention that it deserves. The fact that the present 
generation is struck to a greater or less degree with 
moral poverty has directed serious thought and ef- 
fort to provide ways a:nd means to remedy this serious 
defect in the education of the youth of our land. 

Character Comes First. Character should occupy 
the first place and receive first consideration in all 
training and education of the young. The physical 
body should receive, if we must place them in the 
order of their importance, the second consideration, 
while book-learning should come last. In the scheme, 
then of values, character and the moral life come first. 

[i] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

Necessity of Provision for Moral Instruction. Mor- 
ality is the foundation of social life. Society cannot 
long exist without truth, honor, integrity, and jus- 
tice. In spite of the fact that moral education should 
receive the first place and consideration in all training 
of the young, nevertheless, it is difficult to find pro- 
vision made for thorough and careful moral instruc- 
tion. Here and there an attempt has been made to 
give definite and systematic moral training, but as a 
usual thing little or no consideration is given the mat- 
ter in public or private schools, and in the home the 
matter stands about the same. Moral training in the 
homes, for the most part, consists of reprimands or 
neglect. 

Morality and Religion. Because of the fact that 
morality and religion are intimately connected, the 
problem of instruction is complex. Educational leg- 
islation everywhere in the United States prohibits re- 
ligious instruction in the public schools. This has, 
therefore, had its effect upon the moral problem. 
Schools have avoided the problem and have felt that 
the intellect and its training were the problems of im- 
portance. 

Provision not yet Made. It is no longer neces- 
sary to create a demand for more instruction, and 
from careful investigation, it is found that moral les- 
sons are given in many classrooms. The instruction 
so given, however, is more or less incidental, discon- 
nected and discontinued, at will, or pleasure. No at- 
tempt has been made in this country to work out a 
graded system of moral instruction such as has been 

[2] 



THE DEMAND FOR MORAL EDUCATION 

introduced into the school systems of France, Germany, 
and Japan. The demand is here. The need recognized 
and the importance of the subject appreciated. Pro- 
vision is not made. We are still waiting for a prac- 
tical solution of the problem. 

Material Success Opposed to the Virtues. Material 
success has brought about in American life a change 
in the standard of living. Commercial supremacy and 
the pursuit of wealth has created a demand for train- 
ing that enables the individual to compete with his 
neighbor and countryman in amassing wealth and se- 
curing the things luxurious. The mind and heart of 
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been set on 
worldly possessions rather than on the ideals of char- 
acter and virtue. The scramble goes on. Many of 
the ideals and much of the virtue of our forefathers 
no longer obtain. On the part of the rising generation 
there is a tendency to disregard law, order, and author- 
ity. There is a lack of respect for parents, for age, and 
for wisdom. There is a weakness shown in following 
pleasure rather than acknowledging obligation and 
duty. It is quite the thing to do that which interests, 
and neglect the things which call for responsibility and 
industry. 

Universal Demand for Moral Education. The de- 
mand for moral education is not confined to our own 
land. All civilized countries not only recognize and 
demand it, but have made provision for it. Definite, 
systematic, and graded instruction is provided for and 
is made an integral part of the curriculum of every 
elementary school. The trend, then, of public senti- 

[3] 



MORAL EDUCATION 



ment is in the direction of improved and systematic 
moral education. The demand to-day is for better 
things and for that which is of permanent value and 
far reaching influence on the life of the individual. 

This demand is made, not only in the interests of 
society, but because of the recognized worth of the in- 
dividual. It has clearly been proven, time and again, 
that unless the individual members composing society 
are of moral worth and dependable, society cannot en- 
dure. To that end the individual is entitled to a more 
complete education. He is entitled to his moral and 
religious training and instruction. Society, as it is 
ordered to-day, is but temporary if its members fail 
to recognize a moral order. The growth of social and 
humanitarian ideas is such that the intellect is no longer 
regarded as the sole instrument for the great ends of 
human life. The moral personality has become a vital 
problem, at least, in American life. And, while the 
ground trembles with warring factions, the higher 
moral life still controls in America. Interesting ex- 
periments in moral education have been and are being 
tried in seven of the more progressive countries of 
Europe. The drift and tendency, then, of modern edu- 
cation, is the recognition of the moral problem in its re- 
lation to the individual and society as the vital problem 
for home, school, and society. 



[4] 



CHAPTER II 
AN INVESTIGATION 

Moral Problem a Public School Problem. While the 
problem of moral education is an old one — old, in- 
deed, as the oldest civilization, still it has not been a 
problem for the school. Church and community have 
assumed the burden and obligation in the past. The 
modern social tendency is to look to established insti- 
tutions for the solution of the problem of social and 
civic progress. If there is not an established institution 
deemed capable of handling a given problem, one is 
created. The present tendency and discussion of the 
moral problem emphasizes the fact that the public 
school and home assume the particular form which the 
ethical and moral problem takes to-day. The school is 
to mold moral character as well as develop and train 
the mental processes. 

Society Responsible for Its Members. Rapid devel- 
opment of national and natural resources have pro- 
duced a change in the thinking and living of the 
American. With the increase in numbers and the com- 
plexity involved in living with a rapidly increasing 
population, the duties and occupations of the people 
become multiplied and varied. Life is no longer sim- 
ple but very complex and he who lives the simple life 

[5] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

must of necessity lead a very complex one. The in- 
dividual members of society are forcing upon society 
the duties and responsibilities of its individual mem- 
bers. Institutions have been created for the purpose of 
remedying the weakness found in the individual mem- 
bers of society. These institutions are to provide for 
the defects found in human nature and in human life. 
The moral weakness of man is apparent, and this 
weakness seems to be a tendency to break away from 
the solid and enduring satisfactions of life and to seek 
wealth as the means of satisfying the love of pleasure 
and desire for luxury. 

Public School in Relation to Morals. Society has 
deemed it, therefore, necessary to rivet the attention 
upon moral problems as the offset to meet the tempta- 
tions that beset men in the social and business life, 
which men do not seem to be able to resist in the swift 
and complex changing conditions. The church and the 
home seem to be weak in dealing with the problems 
of changing civilization. Society has, therefore, 
turned to the school as one of its established institu- 
tions for meeting the phases of the moral problems as 
they present themselves and develop in our progressive 
civilization. It, in fact, has deemed the pubHc school 
as the most important and necessary factor in the solu- 
tion of the great problem. 

Wealth versus Aim of Education. Modern life has 
a feverish haste to accumulate wealth. The youth of 
our land are impressed with the importance of wealth 
and its effect. The names they are most familiar with 
are the masters of wealth. Wealth brings leisure, lux- 

[6] 



AN INVESTIGATION 

uries, and pleasure. The modern home demands the 
pleasures and luxuries which are a constant drain upon 
the energies of the family to provide and which leave no 
room for the graces of soul and mind. These condi- 
tions have taken precedence of those homely virtues of 
honesty, industry, integrity, faithfulness, reliability, and 
responsibility in labor and in life. The wealth of the 
world is human. It does not consist in its resources 
of forest and soil, nor does it lie in its mines of pre- 
cious metals. The world grows rich as the world 
grows humane. The end and aim of education is an 
intelligent, sympathetic humanity, honest and reliable, 
beautiful physically, and beautiful spiritually in the 
graces of mind and heart. A humanity '' Who passing 
through the valley of Baca, make it a well." 

Three Classes of Moral Thinkers. There have been 
at least three classes of thinkers and laborers who have 
attempted to solve the moral problem so far as the 
school was concerned. There has been much more 
haste than thought in this matter. Many honest and 
conscientious teachers and laborers have felt the great 
need for the solution of the moral problem, but they 
have not agreed upon the manner or method of attack. 
There has been a distinct separation of the moral and 
ethical problem. ( i ) There have been those who be- 
lieved that there should be direct and systematic train- 
ing in the school such as the French Government has 
imposed upon its school system. The followers of this 
system believe that morals and manners, ethics and 
conduct are to be taught in much the same way as we 
would teach the facts of subject matter of the various 

[7] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

subjects of the school curriculum. This might be 
termed the direct method. (2) Then there are those 
who adhere to the doctrine that all moral worth and 
value is to be learned indirectly ; that true worth cannot 
be secured by a direct system of attack; that we must 
maintain a high moral tone in our effort and endeavor 
and that the moral value comes through the various 
forms of social activities of school life. They believe 
that we should reform our school curriculum and estab- 
lish such centers of work as will bring into play the 
moral possibilities and capabilities of the pupil. Secure 
interest on the part of the pupil in some good work and 
endeavor to lead them out into the fullness of their 
being, such that honesty, integrity, and responsibility 
and the other moral virtues are developed indirectly as 
the pupils apply themselves to some direct problem. 
(3) The third class of thinkers believe that there 
should be a combination of the direct and indirect 
methods. They believe that there should be direct ethi- 
cal teaching to enrich the pupil's human relations and 
give a moral significance to those various activities in 
the performance of his daily duties, as they exist in the 
schoolroom. It is apparent that all three classes of 
thinkers and teachers have assumed that the school, 
both public and private, should take upon itself the 
duties and obligations, to a greater or less degree, of 
the home. 

Home Functions Usurped by Society. The home is 
fast losing its importance and value in this respect. 
Its functions are usurped with the consent of the 
parents by society and its organizations. They seem- 

[8] 



AN INVESTIGATION 

ingly have forgotten that society is only the field in 
which man may labor, with the home as the temple of 
love and " love worketh all manner of good deeds." 
They have assumed also that there is direct relation 
between ethical and moral instruction and conduct ; 
that moral and religious conditions have a direct rela- 
tion and bearing upon action and deportment; that 
moral and religious home training will of necessity 
produce the reliable, honest, and faithful worker. This 
seems to have been assumed at all times. The contro- 
versy has only taken up the qualitative side. It has not 
attempted to prove scientifically that there is a direct 
relation between moral instruction and conduct. If 
there has been an exception to such an assumption, it 
has been placed upon the ground that there are some 
who have fallen when the vast majority have profited 
by religious and moral instruction. This may be the 
case, but it has not been proven scientifically and actu- 
ally demonstrated that there is a direct relation. 

Investigation of the Moral Problem. Several years 
ago this question of the scientific investigation of the 
moral problem, was undertaken by the author. It has 
consumed five years of labor. Six hundred boys and 
sLv hundred girls were taken as the basis for the 
investigation. Their home life, their religious and 
moral training, their deportment in school, their schol- 
arship and all that pertains to home training and to- 
the training received in the public and secular institu- 
tions was carefully observed and examined. These 
pupils were watched and observed carefully through 
four years of school life. No judgment was rendered 

[9] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

until the pupil's environment and training were known, 
and no fact was recorded until thoroughly investigated. 

I. Method 

Material Used. The material upon which this study 
is based was obtained from a careful study of the home 
and school life of six hundred boys and six hun- 
dred girls in the elementary grades beginning with 
the last year of the primary school and including the 
eighth year of the grammar school. The home life 
was studied from two points of view : the character 
and influence of the home training and the religious 
instruction as expressed by the home. This informa- 
tion was obtained by visiting the homes and coming in 
direct contact with the home life of the pupils, as well 
as from the church and Sunday School records. The 
object of the investigation and experiment was to as- 
certain the relation, if any, between (i) religious 
training and deportment, (2) home training and de- 
portment, and (3) the effect of deportment upon the 
scholarship. Undoubtedly errors have crept in, in de- 
termining the pupils' deportment, the character of the 
home training, and the amount of religious instruction. 
It is believed, however, that the errors have not been 
large or so numerous as to affect the method or general 
results. 

Deportment — How Determined. The deportment 
of each pupil was determined in the following manner : 
a list of factors was selected, such factors being as 
nearly as could be determined those elements that con- 
stitute or stand for those fundamental habits which 

[10] 



AN INVESTIGATION 

form so large a part of moral and social life. The fac- 
tors used were (i) truthfulness, (2) honesty, (3) in- 
dustry, (4) perseverance, (5) serviceableness, (6) 
respect for authority, (7) respect for rights of others 
and for property, (8) cleanliness, (9) economy, (10) 
promptness and obedience. 

Judgment — How Formed. Judgment in deport- 
ment was rendered after the boy or girl had been ob- 
served and studied for a period of not less than six 
months. This decision was then confirmed or rejected 
after careful investigation and observation for the 
remaining period of the pupils' elementary school life. 
In short, each pupil was known so far as one individual 
can be known by another. 

Religious Influence. The religious influence was 
classified as follows : (a) Excellent ; when both par- 
ents and children held church membership, and the 
children attended regularly the Sunday School and re- 
ligious services, (b) Good; when either the father or 
mother and the children held church membership and 
the children attended regularly the Sunday School and 
religious services, (c) Fair; when the children did or 
did not hold church membership and attended irregu- 
larly the Sunday School, (d) Poor; when neither 
parents nor children held church membership and the 
children did not attend the Sunday School or religious 
services. 

Home Training. Home training was classified as 
Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor. The factors used in 
making this classification were the same as those em- 
ployed in determining conduct or deportment. 

[II] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

Collated Results. The collated results of the several 
series are exhibited in Tables I to X, and in Figures 
I to X. In Tables I, II, IV, V, VII, and VIII, the 
boys and girls have been treated separately that sex 
differences might be studied. In other tables the results 
have been collated for the entire number of pupils in- 
volved, irrespective of sex. Three correlations were 
made: Deportment and Religious Training; Deport- 
ment and Home Training; Deportment and Scholar- 
ship. One hundred and twenty pupils were considered 
in each of the five grades involved. 

Results — How Arranged. A brief reference to 
Table I will serve to indicate the significance of the 
arrangement of all the tables. The vertical columns 
represent the classification for religious training: Ex- 
cellent, Good, Fair, and Poor respectively from left to 
right. The horizontal sections represent the classifica- 
tion for deportment: Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor 
respectively from top tO' bottom. These in turn are 
divided into five parts, each part representing a grade, 
from the fourth to the eighth inclusive. The method 
of recording the results of the investigation is as fol- 
lows: the pupil's deportment and religious training 
is determined and a mark made in the proper section 
and grade registers this fact. For example : a pupil's 
deportment is marked excellent; his religious training 
has been excellent ; his grade is seven. A mark is made 
in Grade 7, Section E 91-100. If his deportment is ex- 
cellent and his religious training poor and his grade be 
seven, a mark is then made in section E 41-70, Grade 7. 
All pupils are recorded in this manner. The tables for 

[12] 



AN INVESTIGATION 

the other correlations are made after the same method. 
See Plates I to IX. 

Method of Graphic Representation. A brief refer- 
ence to Figure I will explain the method of graphically 
representing the results of the different correlations. 
The classification of the religious training is laid off 
in the axis of abscissas and the per cent of the number 
of boys on the axis of ordinates. The curves show the 
movement of the deportment of the boys through the 
degrees of religious instruction. The same method is 
followed in plotting the curves for Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 
6, 7, 8, 9. Figures 3, 6, and 9 show the curves for the 
1200 pupils irrespective of sex. 

Per Cent — How Obtained. The method of obtain- 
ing the per cent which determined the curves was as 
follows: the total number of pupils falling under any 
one classification is used as the denominator of four 
fractions whose numerators are the number of pupils 
falling within the respective divisions of that classifica- 
tion. To illustrate : 205 boys are marked excellent in 
deportment — 86 of them have had excellent religious 
training. Eighty-six is 42 per cent of the total number 
of boys marked excellent in deportment. The same 
procedure is followed in determining the direction of 
the curves of all the figures. 

II. Results 

Table I shows the results for boys of the correlation 
of deportment and religious training. There were in- 
volved 600 boys from the fourth to the ninth grades. 
The table may be summarized as follows : 205 are 

[ 13 ] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

marked excellent in deportment. Of this number 86 
have had excellent religious training, 83 good, 22 fair, 
14 poor. Two hundred and sixteen are judged good in 
deportment. Of this number 84 have had excellent 
religious training, 84 good, 32 fair, 16 poor. One hun- 
dred and fifteen fair in deportment; 21 of this number 
have had excellent religious training, 48 good, 33 fair, 
and 21 poor. Sixty- four are poor in deportment, 4 
have had excellent religious training, 8 good, 21 fair 
and 31 no religious training. A glance at the table 
shows a striking characteristic of this grouping of 
pupils. If a line were drawn diagonally from the 
upper left hand corner to the lower right hand corner 
of the parallelogram it will be noticed that the pupils 
group themselves about this diagonal as an axis with 
the larger groupings at either end. This characteristic 
is noticeable in all the tables. 

Table II shows the results for girls, which may be 
summarized in the same way as Table I. A compari- 
son of the two tables shows for the various grades a 
slight increase in number of girls over boys who have 
received excellent or good religious training and are 
marked excellent or good in deportment. Quite a per- 
ceptible decrease is noticeable in the number of girls 
who are marked fair or poor in deportment. One hun- 
dred and fifteen boys fair as opposed to 59 girls; 64 
boys poor as opposed to 41 girls. The same results 
are noticeable in all the tables. Table IV shows the 
result of the correlation of deportment and home train- 
ing. A comparison of Tables IV and V shows for 
the same grades and numbers an increase of girls over 

[14] 



AN INVESTIGATION 

boys in the higher standards of deportment and home 
training and a perceptible decrease in the lower stand- 
ard. Six per cent of the girls are poor in deportment 
with corresponding home training as against lo per 
cent for boys. A noticeable and characteristic thing- 
is shown by these tables. The distinction between ex- 
cellent and good is a matter which can with difficulty 
be ascertained. It seems that the distinction must 
be somewhat arbitrary, and this is undoubtedly true. 
Another characteristic to be noticed is that of curve 
fair. It seems to be a rather definite line and yet shows 
the characteristic of indefiniteness in the following re- 
spects: it varies more than either of the other three 
curves, and this is undoubtedly due to the fact that it 
is as difficult to decide between the fair and the poor 
standard as between the good and the excellent. 

Tables VII and VIII show the correlation of deport- 
ment and scholarship. A glance at the tables shows 
one noticeable grouping compared with the grouping 
of the other tables — that there is a higher average 
maintained by the girls than by the boys, and that the 
groupings have changed somewhat. The groupings 
for the lower standards remain steady, while those for 
the upper have changed in their location in the tables. 
This is as would naturally be expected. A high degree 
of mentality is not always coincident with high stand- 
ards of deportment, yet low standards of deportment 
seem to follow closely low standards of scholarship. 
It is hardly necessary to explain further in detail the 
various figures. They but represent graphically the 
results as shown in the tables. 

[IS] 



MORAL EDUCATION 



III. Conclusion 



One definite conclusion is to be drawn from this 
study and investigation — that there is a part to be 
performed by the home. Where religious instruction 
is neglected and where the home training is given 
scarcely any consideration, the boys and girls suffer 
proportionately. The lack of religious instruction is 
undoubtedly due in part to the inadequate instruction 
received by the present generation of parents them- 
selves. They are, therefore, unable to estimate prop- 
erly its value for children. Prompt and vigorous 
action seems to be necessary if children are to receive 
their religious inheritance and to appreciate the re- 
sponsibilities involved. 

Aim of Investigation. It was not the purpose or the 
attempt of this investigation to prove anything new or 
radical. The real aim, as set forth in the beginning, 
was to show scientifically a relation between the vari- 
ous factors involved in this discussion. If we have 
succeeded in doing that, we have succeeded in accom- 
plishing our purpose. Men have always, more or less, 
believed that a natural relation existed between reli- 
gious training and deportment, between deportment 
and accomplished results, and many instances have 
been cited in support of such belief, but no direct at- 
tempt to prove quantitatively the various assertions 
has been made. This, in a small way, has been the 
attempt of this investigation. The following chapters 
are the definite conclusions drawn from the investiga- 
tion. 

[i6] 



AN INVESTIGATION 

The moral problem has been too much a matter of 
words and abstract discussion. It has been in a certain 
sense a negative problem. A concrete case here and 
there has been used to illustrate the moral problem and 
prove an ethical question raised. An example or il- 
lustration, however, neither proves nor disproves. It 
may focus the attention, but logical and definite con- 
clusions cannot be drawn from a few illustrations or 
brilliant half-truths. The great truths of life are 
simple and universal. They are therefore capable of 
exact proof. 



[17] 



MORAL EDUCATION 



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[35] 



CHAPTER III 
THE HOME 

A Question of Agency. It is maintained by many 
that it is not the business of the schools to provide 
moral training and instruction. This work should be 
done by the church and the home. The necessity is 
not denied. It is a question of agency. 

Church Considered. Let us consider, then, briefly 
what the condition is as regards the church and the 
home. The Sunday School has the pupil for one hour 
a week. It is not a question of the value of the work 
done by the Sunday School. It is rather a question of 
time and the effectiveness of the teaching done in the 
Sunday School. One hour a week is hardly sufficient 
time even for a skilled teacher to give the required 
training and instruction in this important mat- 
ter. And, usually, the Sunday School teacher is an 
inexperienced person who makes little or no prepara- 
tion for the work. This is not true in all cases. There 
are to-day many churches that endeavor to train their 
Sunday School teachers. These, however, are excep- 
tions. The Sunday School does an important and 
valuable work. Its best work is probably indirect. 

Home Training Considered. The value of home 
training cannot be denied, but a great change has come 

[36] 



THE HOME 

over the home and its training. The home no longer 
provides moral training. Parents are no longer assum- 
ing their obligations, and because of their own views 
of life and manner of living, they are no longer dis- 
charging this sacred obligation. The standards and 
conditions of living have changed radically within the 
last fifty years. Family life seems to have lost its 
power. One-half, at least, of the population to-day 
live in cities. City life and street influences are at 
work upon the children. In the scramble for existence, 
for wealth and luxury, for the pleasures of the mate- 
rial, the seeking for the finer things of life has ceased, 
and the cultivation of the nobler sentiments seems to 
have been discarded. 

City Life — Its Influence. The city fife too often 
means street life. Family life as such seems to have 
disappeared in hundreds of homes. Suburban life 
means too frequently that many families scarcely meet 
except at week ends, or now and then at the evening 
meal. Immigration has cast upon our shores thou- 
sands of people. In thousands of so-called homes 
from eight to sixteen people live in two or three rooms. 
The sacred things of life have no place and receive no 
attention under such conditions. To give definite 
training in right living; to inspire and direct the will 
in right choosing; to give opportunity for the practice 
of right desires — these things are impossible under 
such conditions. 

School as a Supplement to Home. The school was 
intended in the beginning to supplement the home. In 
the past the home has stood first in the order of im- 



MORAL EDUCATION 

portance as well as of time. In moral training and 
instruction there is no teacher that can take the place 
of an intelligent and good father or mother. Their 
opportunity for imparting moral instruction exceeds 
that of " outside instruction " in quality, importance, 
and variety. Of all teachers, the parent has the great- 
est opportunity in dealing with the heart, mind, and the 
spirit of the child'. 

The School and Its Problem. In spite of its unique 
opportunities and privileges, the home has failed to 
measure up to its opportunities. This is due to ignor- 
ance on the part of parents, to the pressure of the eco- 
nomic and industrial conditions of the time, and to the 
gradual decline in moral and intellectual enrichment of 
the home. As a result, the home has turned over to 
society in a large measure the responsibility for educat- 
ing and training its own. The school, then, has become 
the handmaiden of the home and, with its intellectual 
problem, the physical and moral problem is forced 
upon it. The problem of intemperance, of vocational 
and industrial training, of economy, and thrift, and of 
home-making are problems which the school of to-day 
is supposed to solve. 

Failure of Home in Its Responsibility. If children 
are disobedient, idle, disrespectful, unmindful of re- 
sponsibility, these are problems for the teacher and the 
school. The fundamental virtues are problems for 
the school as well as intellectual training. The parent 
has become too pre-occupied with business and social 
engagements to properly devote the necessary time to 
the physical and moral welfare of the children. Those 

[38] 



THE HOME 

truths and that training once thought necessary to be 
given by the home no longer receive consideration 
from the parent. 

Growth of School Problem. The burden and the 
problem of the school is becoming greater and greater 
in view of the fact that the home is failing to measure 
to its great responsibility and high privilege. There 
are in New York State alone over thirty thousand 
feeble-minded children. The responsibility for train- 
ing these children has been placed upon the public 
school. Nothing has been taken from the school, but 
much has been added to that which already exists. 

Failure of Home in Vital Problems. There are, of 
course, many normal homes in which the parent as- 
sumes the responsibility for the proper physical and 
moral training of the child. The life of the child is 
properly directed. The sleeping room as well as its 
food is properly attended to. All that an intelligent 
parent should do is done. If all children came from 
such homes, the problem of the school would be 
purely that of the intellectual problem, but unfortu- 
nately such is not the case. There are thousands of 
homes in which no thought is given to this most vital 
of problems — the physical and the moral well-being 
of the child. It is futile and useless, therefore, to 
longer attempt to place the responsibility in the home 
even though it there rightly belongs. The facts show 
that the responsibility in too many cases is not as- 
sumed. It becomes necessary, then, for the institu- 
tion known as the public school to provide for, in a 
definite and systematic way, moral training and in- 

[39] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

struction, to inculcate the habits of obedience, respect, 
honor, truth, reverence, and duty, and to create stand- 
ards of conduct and of morahty that shall guide 
and influence the young in their living and in their 
doing. 

The home and school should supplement each other. 
They act upon the child throughout the period ending 
with manhood and womanhood. Their aim, then, 
should be to help the child discover those fundamental 
truths so necessary for free citizenship and useful living 
in a social state. Those truths discovered in both the 
home and school should provide concrete experiences 
in order that the training may be complete on the poeti- 
cal as well as the theoretical side. The knowing and 
the willing should go hand-in-hand. 



[40] 



CHAPTER IV 
THE METHOD 

Method of Instruction. If it is conceded that the 
pubhc schools should assume the responsibility for 
moral instruction, the next question naturally arises, 
what shall the method be? There are two methods of 
instruction — the direct and the indirect method. 

Direct and Indirect. The indirect method of in- 
struction receives by far the greater consideration. 
The majority of teachers and leaders in educational 
thought and procedure place the emphasis upon the in- 
direct method. There is, however, a demand for the 
direct method and it is receiving more and more con- 
sideration. In many quarters it is acknowledged that 
direct and vigorous moral training and instruction 
secure results. In the investigation made, it was 
found that the direct method of the home and the 
church produced results, and in a majority of cases 
secured the desired end. 

Moral Training and Ethical Instruction. We must, 
however, distinguish between moral training and ethi- 
cal instruction. Moral training has for its end or aim 
the practice of the virtues, while ethical instruction has 
for its end or aim the building up of a systematic body 
of ethical knowledge which may or may not function 

[41] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

so far as its observance and practice in real life is 
concerned. In other words we may know the right 
but fail to do the right. Ethical knowledge does not 
necessarily mean right living and right acting. 

Incidental ethical teaching is closely related to the 
indirect method. As the occasion arises and warrants 
the lesson may be direct or indirect as regards its 
method of instruction. It is usually, however, the in- 
direct method that is used. Moral education, however, 
should not be left to the incidental teaching provided 
for in the school curriculum, the purpose of which is 
primarily inte'llectual. There should be systematic in- 
struction in ethics. It is to be deplored that in recent 
years a false pedagogy has sown broadcast the notion 
that ethics or moral instruction is to be taught inci- 
dentally, and can be best taught in that way. Direct 
moral instruction need not be a cold, abstract, intel- 
lectual exercise. It does not follow that we are to 
treat the moral side in the same way as we treat the 
intellectual side nor that the intellect, the feelings, and 
the will are to be controlled and governed by a rule of 
three. This is a misconception and a little thought 
will readily convince a true thinker that children 
themselves do not feel in any way antagonistic toward 
direct moral instruction. The difficulty has been, not 
in moral instruction, but in letting the matter rest 
there without providing an outlet for the activity of 
the child. Teach a child, what is right and then provide 
an opportunity for him to do what is right. Teach a 
child what respect is, and then give him an opportunity 
to be respectful. Teach a child what honesty is, and 

[42] 



THE METHOD 

then give him an opportunity to be honest. Provide 
means for the practical outlet of aroused feelings after 
moral instruction, and the difficulties will not be found 
in direct moral instruction. 

Question of Results not Method. There is no ques- 
tion as regards the value of indirect ethical and moral 
instruction, but something more than that is necessary. 
It must be brought home vigorously and vividly to the 
child that he is placing himself in opposition to the 
laws of society and providing a stumbling block for 
himself by his conduct and action, or that he is obeying 
the laws of society and man, and consequently con- 
forming to a higher standard of living and action. 

Necessity of Both Methods. In order, however, to 
get right action, we must have a moral content which 
acts as a guide to the action which may take place. 
There is such a thing as unmorality. This arises when 
mental and moral content is wanting. Ethical instruc- 
tion is needed in such a case. Incidental ethical teach- 
ing is not sufficient. Systematic moral instruction is 
necessary to build up a body of ethical knowledge. 
Haphazard teaching will not prevent moral poverty. 
Definite concepts of right and wrong should be built 
up in the minds of children. Ideals of right action 
and right endeavor should be constantly put before the 
children in such a way and manner as to arouse their 
will power. Right habits of conduct should be fixed 
with practice. When the concept has been definitely 
builded, then opportunity and means should be pro- 
vided for the application of the principle involved and 
understood by the child. The two methods of instruc- 

[43] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

tion must go hand in hand. In a majority of the cases 
investigated and observed, it was found that system- 
atic ethical instruction was given, and training fol- 
lowed the direct method of the home, church, and the 
school. 

Direct Method — Effect on Children. It is stated in 
many quarters, and used as an objection to the direct 
method that children dislike moralizing and, as it is 
termed, preaching. In this investigation it was found 
that wherever there was sincere, earnest, and honest 
endeavor to assist, guide, or direct the child there 
was no resentment. Insincere preaching or moralizing 
produces naturally, corresponding results. Children as 
well as adults quickly see through the effort. Children 
as a rule like the direct way of going at things. Ex- 
planation, reason, and directness of purpose and motive 
appeal to children, and in the investigation no resent- 
ment was found. Direct moral instruction does not 
make children prudish, priggish or little moral ab- 
stracts. The fault has been in the teaching. Children 
do not object to being told what is right, and why it is 
right, if put to them in an intelHgent way, appealing 
tQ their feelings, and then providing an opportunity for 
them to do something with that about which they 
have been taught. Humility is not taught in the ab- 
stract. It is good to know what humility means. It is 
better to practice it, and the clearest way to understand 
it is to be humble. Sympathetic and tactful helpfulness 
found a ready response in the many homes and in the 
school on the part of the children. All things may be- 
come distasteful if used unwisely. 

[ 44 ] 



THE METHOD 

Incidental Method — Good. The incidental teaching 
of ethics is good. It is not to be dispensed with. 
Many a lesson, many an opportunity, occurs during the 
day when the teacher can drive home forcibly some 
moral lesson of value and of importance to the children. 
These opportunities should not be overlooked, but one 
should not always wait for an opportunity. Make one 
if the children in your room need it. 

Indirect Method — for Lower Grades. In building 
up a body of systematic ethical knowledge, it was 
found in the lower grades of the school, and in 
the early life of the child, the indirect method best 
served the purpose. The content of such ethical in- 
struction should consist of the virtues and the vices 
with their rewards and penalties taught through the 
medium of story, fable, myth, allegory, parable, biog- 
raphy, and history. This arouses the child's sympathy, 
creates an interest and appeals to the volitional side of 
the child's nature. The fundamental thing, however, 
is the direct method of establishing the will of the 
pupil in acts and habits of conduct that are necessary 
and essential to the welfare of the individual. 

Moral Training in Early Life. The child's moral 
training should begin with its birth. Some one has 
rightly said with its grandparents. However, the inves- 
tigation has nothing to do with problems of this nature. 
We must confine ourselves to the more practical and 
definite problem of the results of the investigation, and 
the problem for the school. Beginning with the kin- 
dergarten, the child's moral nature should be carefully 
studied, and the moral training should be strictly con- 

[45] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

fined to training in habits of right conduct. In the 
lower or primary grades, teachers should make a care- 
ful study of the instincts, and determine the virtues 
and vices that belong to each one of these instincts, 
and to the several stages of the child's development. 
Each grade and each year of the child's life, there- 
fore, should deal with some definite phase of the un- 
folding of its moral nature. It was found that wher- 
ever thoughtful consideration was given this matter, 
little or no difficulty was experienced so far as the 
conduct of the child was concerned. 

Indirect Method — Advantages and Disadvantages. 
The indirect method leaves the child to do his own 
moralizing. This is not always good for the child. 
The emotions which are the motive power of the voli- 
tional side of the child's nature, are not always sensi- 
tive to the right thing. The child should grasp the 
correct moral import of the content of the material 
used in the indirect method. If he fails to do so, the 
effort is lost. Again, moralizing depends upon a body 
of ethical knowledge and the strength of the will 
power which forms the background for action or 
doing. The matter cannot be left entirely with indi- 
rect teaching or with the pupil doing his own moraliz- 
ing. Study, thought, and tact must be used by the 
teacher and the home in determining just how far the 
indirect method shall be used without being supple- 
mented by the direct and vigorous teachings of the 
direct. 

Direct Instruction — Result of Investigation. In a 

large majority of the cases studied and observed in 

[46] 



THE METHOD 

this investigation, by far the greater part of the in- 
struction was direct moral instruction and training of 
the individual. This was true also of the problem of 
manners in relation to morals. It is a matter of train- 
ing fundamentally, enriched and supplemented with a 
mental and moral content of ethical knowledge. 



[47] 



CHAPTER V 

THE TEACHER AND MORAL INSTRUCTION 

Teacher and Moral Instruction. If moral instruc- 
tion is to be given a place in the public school, teachers 
must receive preparation and training for this work as 
well as for the several subjects taught by them. It by 
no means follows that the certified public school 
teacher is qualified to give ethical instruction and 
moral training. There must be enthusiasm for this 
subject, supported by a background and store of ethical 
knowledge, and a spirit that has for its aim the child's 
moral welfare. A teacher may have a general knowl- 
edge of the subject, and still be unprepared to teach 
the subject. It is necessary to know what to teach and 
how much to teach. Also, what part of ethical knowl- 
edge appeals to the child at the particular age dealt with 
by the teacher. This requires careful study on the part 
of the teacher, and careful preparation of subject mat- 
ter by the teacher. Moral training and ethical in- 
struction must appeal to the feeling or volitional side 
of the child's nature. Ethical instruction must arouse 
an emotion. It must prompt to action. The outcome 
should be moral doing. Moral training is moral action 
or right action as the result of ethical knowledge and 
ethical instruction. 

[48] 



THE TEACHER AND MORAL INSTRUCTION 

The Mechanical Teacher. There are too many 
teachers who feel that they have served their purpose 
and given value received when they have performed in 
a methodical, or mechanical way the intellectual tasks 
set for that particular grade of work. They are, too 
often, more interested in the salary schedule and vaca- 
tion dates than in the moral development of the chil- 
dren placed in their charge, and for whom they are 
responsible. These are the mechanical teachers. They 
belong in the occupations where tasks are performed 
in a mechanical way. 

Need of Interest and Enthusiasm. Teaching re- 
quires spiritual enthusiasm. Moral training requires 
it to a very large degree. A teacher must believe in it 
and must feel that the supreme aim is to take careless, 
selfish, and thoughtless boys and girls and make of 
them boys and girls who have some self-control, self- 
respect, and who manifest in action toward others a 
spirit of respect, courtesy, and obedience to the right. 
It requires a real teacher — ^not a mechanically made 
one, to create within the minds and hearts of the boys 
and girls a sense of feeling of responsibility. There is 
the deepest sort of satisfaction in teaching that secures 
results of this character. 

Teacher — A Student of Life and Children. The 
teacher should have at his command a store of ethical 
knowledge that functions. It is of supreme impor- 
tance that the teacher shall have read much and widely 
of ethical literature. This applies not merely to the 
direct ethical literature such as the Bible, but to that 
much larger variety of ethical literature such as fables, 

[ 49 ] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

myths, allegories, biographies, and stories. The 
teacher, too, should be a keen observer of human ac- 
tion. A student of human psychology as opposed to 
text-book psychology. Human nature is much the 
same the world over. Motives and actions are quite 
regular in their beginnings and their output. To know 
that which incites and arouses within the mind and 
heart of the pupil certain action, is to be master of 
his action. A superficial study of children leads to 
nothing but mere word instruction and seldom results 
in anything but looseness and. indifference on the part 
of the pupil so far as moral training is concerned. 

Teacher — an Exponent of His Teaching. The 
teacher should also exercise a constant watch over his 
own actions. It is useless to talk respect and self-con- 
trol to others when our daily life shows but little, if 
any, practice on our part. The successful teacher of 
moral training must be a successful practicer of ethics. 
To preach courtesy and act rudely, to encourage help- 
fulness and render but little service, is hardly the pearl 
of consistency. 

Teaching — an Art. Teaching is not in any sense 
a trade. Its work cannot successfully be performed 
in a mechanical way with selfish interests for its back- 
ground, and easier work, its end and aim. " He that 
looseth his life shall find it." Teaching is an affair 
of life-giving energy in word and in deed. The real 
strength of the teacher is shown in the results accom- 
plished. The successful teacher is nerve-exhausted. 
Such a one gives from the heart — not from the head. 
Teaching is an art. It must be personal and universal. 

[50] 



THE TEACHER AND MORAL INSTRUCTION 

Teacher and Child. Teaching requires constant ef- 
fort, continued study, and serious thought. The suc- 
cessful teacher in the particular field of ethics and 
moral training must give largely of his own life in 
order to be successful. Such a teacher will secure a 
definite knowledge of the child's environment, of the 
home influence and training, and of all those condi- 
tions and factors that influence the child's life. This 
knowledge will be used in the classroom in such a way 
that weaknesses and defects are gradually eliminated 
and replaced by strength, and effective right action. 

Point of Contact. There must be personal contact 
and a point of contact secured, if the teacher hopes 
to secure results worth the effort. We cannot with- 
draw from that which we urge and recommend and 
hope to be believed by others. There must be encour- 
agement by word and action, by friendly and sincere 
effort, a generous sympathy expressed and an under- 
standing manifested that the heart speaks to the heart 
and not the lips to the brain. Ethical instruction and 
moral training is an art and not a trade. 

Teacher and Her Standard. The teacher must have, 
then, in mind an ideal of her own, that is, the kind 
of men and women she sees before her in these 
young boys and girls. What kind of man or woman 
is her ideal? What part does she wish them to play 
in the social relations which they must enter into upon 
their emergence in the world of action? These things 
clearly indicate that the teacher is not capable of giv- 
ing instruction unless that teacher has a definite type 
in mind of the man or woman to be. There are many 

[51] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

types of character. There are many schools of ethics, 
therefore, we cannot speak of character in general or 
moral instruction in general. We must speak of and 
have in mind a definite kind of character, and a defi- 
nite type of manhood and womanhood. The type 
of character which the public schools should seek to 
produce is that which conforms best to the ideal prin- 
ciples of democracy. By that we understand in Amer- 
ica that no individual liveth alone to himself ; that we 
are all intimately associated one with another; we 
are dependent one upon another, and that the ideal 
of human life as we conceive it is an individual who 
is efficient, who is progressive, who is competent not 
only to provide and care for himself, but to produce 
something that will tend to make the world a little 
better for his having lived in it. Society to-day as 
constituted is a series of readjustments of the indi- 
vidual to the changing conceptions which supposedly 
make for higher types of civilization. Therefore, it 
is a wise teacher who can run ahead and look into the 
future ten or fifteen years hence, and see what is to be 
required of the boy and girl in her room to-day, in 
that distant future. 

Part Each Should Play. Again, progress consists 
in arousing within the individual a desire and a taste 
for the best things of the intellect, the best things of the 
sesthetic side of his life as well as the best things in his 
moral life. These things are brought about not through 
gifts but through the willingness of the individual to 
perform his part of the work necessary. Therefore, 
in a democracy it is fundamental that every one 

[52] 



THE TEACHER AND MORAL INSTRUCTION 

should learn how to work. The slave is not the part, 
the drone is not the part, nor is the grind the part, but 
a faithful, willing, intelligent worker is the part that 
each should play. 

Three Fundamental Principles in American Civiliza- 
tion. One of the most fundamental lessons of the 
moral life that can possibly be taught in public school 
work is that of an appreciation on the part of the pu- 
pils for the great toilers of the past, through whose 
labors and efforts the good of the present civilization 
is ours for betterment. To understand how through 
travail of spirit, and through physical endurance, they 
have given to us an inheritance that enriches and enobles 
life, is the highest type of moral lesson that can be 
given to children. We must take into consideration, 
then, as teachers, that individual efficiency, social 
practice, and a stableness of society are the three under- 
lying and fundamental principles in American civiliza- 
tion to-day. He who cannot appreciate this is abso- 
lutely incapable of giving moral instruction. 



[53] 



CHAPTER VI 

THE PHYSICAL LIFE 

Physical Life. All human endeavor is dependent 
upon the condition of the physical organs. Life is 
physical to a very large degree. A child or an adult 
in poor health is struck with intellectual and moral 
as well as physical poverty. The health and strength 
of the body must be secured and maintained if the in- 
dividual is to attain happiness and efficiency, mental, 
moral or material. 

Hygiene of Body. With young children it is impera- 
tive, then, that the hygiene of the body should receive 
first consideration. " Cleanliness is next to Godli- 
ness." An unclean body is apt to have an unclean 
mind and spirit. It is very difficult if not impossible 
to instruct or train one content with physical unclean- 
liness. The cleanliness of the child, as regards its per- 
son and its clothes, determines to a very large degree 
the nature and quality of the ethical instruction to 
be given. With young children hygiene of food is im- 
portant. Food should be selected with care and the 
eating properly regulated in accordance with the physi- 
cal life of the child. Proper rest, fresh air, and play 
should be provided for the child to induce the proper 
development of its physical nature. In this investiga- 

[54] 



THE PHYSICAL LIFE 

tion, it was found almost without exception, that wher- 
ever these matters were regulated carefully by the 
home, it had decided effect upon the moral life of the 
child. 

Physical Well-Being. Physical well-being is neces- 
sary for the moral well-being. A failure to recognize 
this and to properly provide for it is to be guilty of 
moral neglect and does positive harm to the growing 
boy or girl. In those communities where the homes, 
through ignorance, or neglect, fail to properly attend to 
this matter, the public school should provide, at least, 
play grounds, recreation centers, shower baths, and 
make such other provision as will safeguard the physi- 
cal welfare of the child. 

Physical Virtues and Vices. In moral instruction 
the physical virtues and vices should be carefully ex- 
plained to the child. Cleanliness should be empha- 
sized and insisted upon. No part of physical cleanli- 
ness should be neglected. The clothes should receive 
careful attention as much so as the eye, the ear, the 
teeth, the nails, and the skin. Personal cleanliness 
should be made a requirement. These matters should 
be carefully taken up and dwelt upon in a thorough, 
systematic way, but it should not rest with instruction. 
Here it is that compulsion is a virtue, and if the home 
neglects the matter, the school should persist and insist. 

Relation Between Moral Life, Food, and Sleep. An- 
other topic of serious importance to pupils is the rela- 
tion of food, sleep, and exercise to health, and there- 
fore, indirectly conserving the mental and moral life. 
These topics should become matters of instruction, and 

[55] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

while not as much can be done in deahng with the 
subject of food and sleep as can be accomplished with 
the matter of cleanliness and recreation, still vital and 
influential instruction may produce decided improve- 
ment. A moral obligation rests upon every responsible 
teacher and home. The physical welfare of the child 
should be conserved in all its aspects under all con- 
ditions. To neglect this is to neglect a fundamental 
and lifelong matter. 

Results Found. In this investigation it was invari- 
ably found to be true that wherever these matters were 
neglected, the moral and intellectual life suffered — 
the moral life particularly. There was an indifference 
manifested by the boy or girl. There was a lack of 
self-control. There was a looseness in conduct. 
There was a loss of vitality and vigor. Ambition 
seemed to be wanting. Such boys seemed to have no 
interest in the games of boys. They were not infre- 
quently found around the corner smoking cigarettes. 
Pride seemed to be wanting in their general make-up. 
It was difficult to appeal to such boys and girls. A 
point of contact was difficult to find. Physical cour- 
age, which is the ideal of the majority of boys at the 
period of life covered by the investigation, was seldom 
their ideal. These pupils were more secretive than 
others. In recitation they withdrew from participa- 
tion in class discussion and class work. In several 
cases where the boys were taken from their poor en- 
vironment and placed in more favorable surroundings 
within two years the disposition and attitude of these 

[56] 



THE PHYSICAL LIFE 

boys changed entirely. They became clean and whole- 
some, self-respecting, courteous, and vigorous boys. 
They took particular pride in their dress and man- 
ners, and became enthusiastic over sports, games, and 
tests of strength. This was not due to the arrival of 
the ' collar period.' Illustration after illustration 
could be cited from this one investigation to bear wit- 
ness to the truth of the general statement, that the 
moral life is dependent upon the physical well-being 
of the body. The homes visited from time to time 
gave impressive, if silent testimony, that seldom is there 
moral well-being where the physical is neglected. A 
clean body is necessary for a clean mind. 

The Physical — a Safeguard to the Moral. Can any 
one doubt that where there are large numbers of chil- 
dren gathered together in unfavorable surroundings, 
and where they have to spend their play hours upon the 
streets, that physical and moral depravity results? 
Where children have safe places in which to give their 
muscles and spirits free play in a happy harmless way, 
and where the physical welfare is properly provided 
for, there shall we see the moral safeguarded. Prop- 
erly supervised playgrounds are an absolute necessity 
to the moral welfare of children. 

Statistical Results. During the year 19 13, in New 
York City alone, 9019 separate cases involving chil- 
dren were heard. Many of these cases came before 
the judges more than once. There was an average 
of seventy-five hearings a day. Two-thirds were cases 
of truant children. Thirty-seven per ' cent were 

[57] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

charged with offense springing from bad morals, while 
one- fourth were charged with petty wrongdoing. No 
greater argument for safe-guarding the physical wel- 
fare of children could be used than this one bit of evi- 
dence. It was found to be true in every case in this 
investigation that where the boy or girl became physi- 
cally tired from play, or were given opportunity for 
proper recreation, the moral life became cleaner, the 
acts of immorality fewer, and the tendency to think and 
speak vulgar thoughts gradually disappeared. 



[58] 



CHAPTER VII 
MANNERS AND MORALS 

Relation Between Morals and Manners. It is com- 
monly accepted that the public school to-day has some- 
thing to do with moral training and good manners. In 
some schools much is done in this respect. In others 
it is entirely neglected, and in some places indifferently 
attempted. What then, if any, is the relation existing 
between manners and morals? It is best that we 
should define good manners in order that we may more 
clearly understand the relation to good morals. The 
terms are loosely used. 

Good Manners Defined. By good manners we do 
not mean the artificial courtesies of society. Such 
good manners do not make for good morals or any 
morals. But if by good manners we understand cour- 
tesy and such conduct as is based upon, or grounded 
in, principles of living that are vital, then there is a 
definite relation between manners and morals. Arid, 
if we take those manners for example, such as may 
be grouped under courtesy, we find that they are an 
expression of good will, therefore derive their being 
from the principle of good will which is a most vital 
principle in morals. The self-respecting boy or girl, 
man or woman, respects others. Proper respect is 

[59] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

good manners. Respect is an expression of the prin- 
ciple of reverence and good will. 

Good Manners — Related to Physical Control. We 

may touch upon the lighter mannerisms : good table 
manners have a vital relation to good morals. Good 
table manners mean self-control, respect, and a control 
of the appetite. They derive their being from the 
principle of temperance, and temperance is a virtue. In 
a purely physical sense, then, good manners mean a 
control of the physical and of the mental, and there- 
fore are deeply rooted in the principles of the moral 
and ethical life. He who has the finer sensibilities and 
trains and cultivates them builds solidly upon the vir- 
tues. Courtesy in a vital sense prevents licentiousness 
and impurity. Good manners, in a broad and large 
sense, between human beings rest upon those virtues 
that make business possible where trust and confidence 
is necessary. 

Success and Good Manners. True and lasting suc- 
cess is not infrequently founded upon those virtues 
which are given expression in what is termed good 
manners. The difference between true politeness and 
artificial politeness is just the difference between self- 
respect and self-conceit. True politeness, or good man- 
ners, comes from a heart filled with good will. It is 
sincere. Good manners radiate a spirit of kindness, 
of charity, of respect rooted in intelligence and con- 
trolled action and speech. 

Training in Good Manners. In a very vital sense, 
then, the work of the school as well as of the home 
should be to train pupils in good manners, for in so 

[60] 



MANNERS AND MORALS 

doing the pupil is being trained to form the habit of 
giving expression to the virtues. This is hving the 
moral life. Pupils should be taught the difference be- 
tween a polite person and a rude one, and the effect 
that good manners have even in business life. Not 
infrequently does it happen that one's success is due 
quite as much to good manners and loyalty as to abil- 
ity. Self-respect has much to do with good manners, 
and pupils should be taught this fact. True politeness 
is the expression of a kind heart and not an artificial 
sham. Often pupils and even adults give expression 
to rudeness, not from ignorance or choice, but from a 
lack of training and sometimes it is due to laziness. 
Here it is that opportunity should be given the boy or 
girl in the home and in the school to practice in a real, 
not in some artificial situation, good manners in a 
variety of ways. 

Good Manners — Grouped. Good manners should 
be grouped under several heads or chief topics. In- 
struction should follow as to what constitutes true 
politeness, real courtesy, good form, self-respect, and 
true conduct. This done, opportunity should be given 
and a situation provided to give the training necessary 
to establish the several forms as habits in the life of 
the boy and girl. Such themes should be : good man- 
ners in general, good manners at home, good man- 
ners at the table, good manners in school, good 
manners in private, good manners in business, good 
manners in conversation, good manners in public, 
good manners on the street. These topics cover the 
chief situations in life, and if the boy or girl is well- 

[6i] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

trained a serious handicap is removed in one respect, 
at least, so far as his success in Hfe is concerned. It 
cannot be too thoroughly emphasized that good man- 
ners and true politeness mean much and count for 
much in business life as well as in private life. 



[62] 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE RECITATION AS A MEDIUM FOR MORAL 
INSTRUCTION 

Formal Nature of Recitation. The recitation in the 
organization of the American pubHc school occupies 
a unique place. The time of the pupil is usually 
divided in the following manner : time devoted to the 
study of lessons; time devoted to the recitation of 
those lessons studied. The teacher's time is, there- 
fore, given almost entirely to recitation work. The 
result has been that the recitation has become a testing 
or an examination period of a more or less formal 
character. There are exceptions, of course, to this 
statement, but it applies to a large majority of the 
classrooms in the American public schools. The reci- 
tation lesson has become a period of time devoted to 
hearing prepared work, testing the pupils, or present- 
ing new work in a more or less formal way in which 
the pupil has a minimum of interest. From the 
teacher's standpoint the recitation lesson is the prin- 
cipal feature of the day. 

Prominence Given Recitation. School authorities 
and educational authorities give the recitation a very 
prominent place. Some assert that all school activities 
and interests are centered in the recitation. From the 

[63] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

teacher's standpoint it gives an opportunity to impart 
knowledge, guide effort, train pupils, arouse enthu- 
siasm, provoke thought, and give opportunity for in- 
dividual expression, that is, it should do all this, but 
let us carefully examine the usual recitation and see 
what the actual practice is. 

Recitation from Disciplinary Standpoint. The first 
requirement is discipline, that is, the recitation is 
judged first from the standpoint of quietness and 
order. Pupils are to sit in an orderly manner. Quiet- 
ness in the room must prevail. The quieter the room, 
the more successful the teacher, so it is said. But 
examine closely this quietness. It is usually a sup- 
pressed condition. The quietness is merely physical. 
The real child, that is, the feeling and thinking child, 
may be in a state of chaos. The real child may be far 
removed from the confines of the classroom. His in- 
terests are centered anywhere but where his body is. 
He has learned that physical quietness answers prac- 
tically every purpose. To think, to become responsible, 
to be interested, to be aroused, to want to put forth 
effort, to do something for others, to feel his part in 
the recitation, to have certain set tasks and duties to 
perform, may be felt rarely by the minority of pupils. 
They rely upon the teacher. They depend upon her. 
Is there anything to be done? Is there any responsi- 
bility to be assumed ? Is there any disorder to be sup- 
pressed? Are there any unfavorable conditions to be 
attended to? The teacher is the one to look after 
all such matters. The pupils feel no responsibility 
resting upon them. The only part the pupil plays is 

[64] 



THE RECITATION AS A MEDIUM 

that he is to repeat facts learned — in other words, to 
rehearse the lesson. The pupil is more or less one of 
the mechanical fixtures of the room. In an uncon- 
scious way, he is looked upon by the average teacher 
as a bit of mechanism to be squeezed into the mold, 
and turned out according to the pattern. 

Wasted Time in Recitation. Little or no effort is 
made to teach pupils how to study. They are left, as 
a usual thing, to attack the lesson according to their 
own plan. It is too often the case that the lesson 
assigned is not clearly understood by the pupil. The 
result is that the pupil usually learns words, and the 
text-book is a medium between the two — teacher and 
pupil. Three-fourths of the time spent by a pupil 
below the seventh grade, in trying to prepare a lesson 
from a text-book, is wasted time and energy. 

Criticisms of Recitation. There are many criticisms 
of the recitation, and all of them only too true. In a 
brief way these criticisms may be summarized as 
wasted time, mental wandering, aimless effort, sup- 
pressed mental effort and interest, and the ethical 
value of the most important period of the day entirely 
lost. There are many teachers who cannot teach with 
success. They develop and present subjects, but the 
whole effect is lost upon the class. The ordinary reci- 
tation is as a usual thing merely an oral examination. 

Object of Recitation. The recitation has become a 
fixed part of the daily plan of the American public 
school. As this is the case, what then should be the 
fundamental object of the recitation? Many have ad- 
vocated abolishing the recitation. If we are to retain 

[6s] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

the recitation as one of the fundamentals of American 
school organization, we miust first clearly point out the 
ends which it must conserve, the results which it must 
secure, and the part that the teacher and the pupil is 
to play. 

Objects Enumerated. The important factors are: 
pupil, teacher, material used to train the pupil, and 
the kind of training. What then are the objects? 
The recitation gives an opportunity for the teacher 
(i) to study the pupil and to know the pupil, (2) 
to aid the pupil with those mental processes which 
present difficulties of a general nature and of a 
special nature which are troublesome to the pupil be- 
cause he is that particular pupil, (3) to enable the 
pupil to acquire new experiences, (4) to train the 
pupil in expression, (5) to give the pupil an oppor- 
tunity to receive some training and to impart a social- 
ising influence, (6) to enable the pupil to express 
his own individuality and receive a modifying influence 
from the class, (7) to correct wrong impressions, 
(8) to enlarge the pupil's experience, (9) to build 
up in an orderly, logical way, a definite store of in- 
formation that functions, (10) to enable the pupil 
to overcome individual weaknesses, (11) to enable 
the pupil to form the habit of concentrated effort and 
attention. 

Recitation and Desired Ends. It will be seen that 
the recitation must occupy a very important place, not 
only in educational theory, but in practice. The 
teacher should have clearly before her, and thor- 
oughly master these definite aims. The recitation, 

[66] 



THE RECITATION AS A MEDIUM 

then, should be organized to accomplish the work. To 
accomplish this the teacher must have ( i ) scholarship. 

(2) Experience which may be termed socialized ex- 
perience, that is, not merely a knowledge of books, but 
a knowledge of life, of people and of human activity. 

(3) A definite knowledge of the particular problem 
that every schoolroom represents. (4) A definite 
knowledge of the community and the environment of 
the children assembled in that particular room each 
morning. (5) An interested, wholesome influence 
which extends beyond a course of study and thinks 
of the child as an individual to be trained in a definite 
way, in definite acts of a general or particular nature, 
such that the training received is a part of life and not 
confined to the schoolroom and ending with the 
schoolroom. 

New Order of Recitation. If the recitation is to 
occupy the important place in the day's program, it 
must be radically changed in order to meet the changed 
and changing conditions of modern life. School can 
no longer be a thing set apart from life more or less 
artificial in building up an artificial world of manners, 
acts and thoughts peculiar to the institution — school 
and ending with the school life. 

Added Responsibility. The school has been forced 
to assume many of those responsibilities which for- 
merly the home assumed. The parent has been in the 
past the true teacher of much that, at present, the in- 
stitution called school has been forced to assume. Of 
all teachers, the parent has the best opportunity of 
dealing with the whole child, that is, the mental child, 

[67] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

the physical child, and the spiritual child. Yet, not- 
withstanding this, the home is failing in a large 
measure to meet its responsibilities and opportunities. 
Parental incapability, unjust economic and industrial 
conditions, and family instability and inefficiency are, 
in part, the causes of the failure of the home to do its 
part in solving the modern problem with which we are 
confronted in the education of the child for society. 
The school, then, has become the place where humanity 
has placed its offspring, together with any new respon- 
sibility resulting from the changing order of society, 
to receive that training which modern life demands. 

Added Responsibilities as Illustrated. This may be 
well illustrated by a few examples. If the home neg- 
lects good manners, good social custom, a morality that 
is sound, let the school teach manners and morals. If 
money interests disturb the economic and industrial 
conditions, let the school teach civics. If extrav- 
agance and waste characterize many of the homes, let 
the school teach and inculcate the virtue of thrift and 
industry. Let the school establish savings banks and 
teach by this example the practice of saving. If 
mothers are unwilling and unable to teach their own 
daughters the fundamentals of home-making and home- 
keeping, let the school teach dressmaking and cooking 
and sewing, and the other details of home-keeping. If 
children are disobedient, disrespectful, careless, idle, 
with little or no time to apply themselves to a given 
task which they could well accomplish, let the teacher 
in the school eradicate these weaknesses and establish 
the virtues necessary to make the child a mannerly, 

[68] 



THE RECITATION AS A MEDIUM 

orderly, and thoughtful boy or girl. If the social life 
and the business life become too pressing and the 
physical welfare of the child interfere, let the school 
take up hygiene and physical training. If parents are 
unwilling and incompetent to teach the fundamental 
and sacred truth of physical and moral protection, let 
the school teach sex hygiene. 

Society Fixes the Responsibility. In brief, then, the 
school has become the center for the training in and 
teaching of all those particulars relating to the welfare 
of the complete child. To meet these new duties and 
responsibilities the child must undergo reorganization. 
All the former duties of the school still remain and 
must be done as well or better than before. The time, 
however, in which it is to be done remains the same 
as before. It is no longer a question whether the 
school should undertake all that is required of it to-day, 
or whether it can do all that is demanded. Whether 
these things are demanded wisely or unwisely is not 
the question. Whether the school and the teacher are 
to become a sort of universal social healer is not the 
question. It is evident that society has determined 
that the school shall do these things. It is evident also 
that the time is not far distant when the school day 
must be lengthened to six or seven hours and to pos- 
sibly forty-six or fifty weeks per year. This is to be 
determined by the needs of the community and the 
several groups of children within the community. 

Recitation the Critical Period of the School Day. 
It is certain, then, that a reorganization is about to take 
place. Whatever may be the changed conditions so far 

[ 69 ] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

as school buildings, playgrounds, school equipment, and 
apparatus are concerned, from the teaching side, the 
problem must be solved in the recitation period. The 
recitation must become a place where the child is con- 
sidered from the standpoint of the whole child, and 
not merely the informational child. To teach the scat- 
tered facts of this subject or that, to group these facts 
more or less logically, to build up information in such 
a way that it becomes a connected whole is no longer 
the sole function of the recitation. The child must be 
considered from the standpoint of a thinking, active, 
feeling being endowed with certain capacities and with 
certain instincts that become useful or harmful accord- 
ing as they are directed or allowed to display them- 
selves, all of which must be strengthened and guided in 
such a way and in such manner that a social being re- 
sults. The resulting individual must have received 
such training that use and practice in the tools of learn- 
ing have become automatic, also such training as will 
enable him to meet and confer with others at whatever 
age, stage of progress, or occupation he may be in. He 
should receive such training in manners, for example, 
that he is able to meet all people upon a plane of equality 
so far as manners are concerned. He should receive 
such training that he is enabled to express himself, 
clearly, accurately, modestly, yet with all, firm in the 
position which he has assumed, supported with knowl- 
edge and his experience. The recitation must do all 
this. It must take the child as it finds him and in 
keeping with his capacity and understanding, create 

[70] 



THE RECITATION AS A MEDIUM 

for him such experience as will enable him to partici- 
pate in or become a part of that experience. 

The Recitation — a Period for Giving Experiences. 
The several subjects to be taught must, therefore, be 
considered from the standpoint of subject matter that 
will enable the child to receive a first hand experience, 
in which an opportunity is given for him to express 
his own personality and individuality, in which the con- 
dition may be modified by the expression of the child 
or the child's ideas and feelings, changed, or modified, 
or enlarged by the reaction of the experience. The 
teaching, then, of a given subject means that the sub- 
ject is not the important thing. It means that the 
child and the situation in which he is placed become 
the important factor. For the child is to receive im- 
pressions and a definite form of training, is to enlarge 
his experience and make of himself a more capable 
and efficient social being at each and every stage of 
his progress. 

The Recitation — a Period of Pupil Activity. The 
recitation can be conducted no longer according to the 
old set plan of question and answer. It must become 
the medium for receiving training and obtaining expe- 
riences. The class must be so organized that, in the 
teaching of every lesson, the pupil has a responsible 
part to play. He is to give, as well as to receive. He 
must be led and trained to perform certain duties be- 
cause he is a member of that class. He must be led 
to see that, as a member of the class, he is responsible 
in a way for every act of disorder, for every unwhole- 

[71] 



MORAL EDUCATION 



^ 



some condition that may exist, so far as his class is 
concerned. The order of the room, the appearance of 
the room, the general deportment of pupils, the con- 
duct of pupils, the speech and habits of pupils as mem- 
bers of that class, are all matters with which he is in- 
timately associated and vitally concerned. He has 
set tasks (this does not refer to preparation of as- 
signed lessons) and duties for which he alone is re- 
sponsible. The room in a way belongs tO' him. He 
must feel it. There are many things which he as a 
member of the class can do to make his room and his 
class better. He must be interested and aroused so 
that the initiative comes from him. 

Nature and Character of Pupil Activity. The chil- 
dren should be taught and led to see that a very large 
part of their work is to give their classmates the ad- 
vantage of their thought and of their study. In turn, 
they should receive from the class questions, and they 
should be ready and prepared to answer these questions. 
They should receive criticism and correction from 
members of their class. They should be trained to 
meet this sort of thing. In this they receive training 
in social usage. It strengthens their confidence; gives 
opportunity for exchange of ideas; gives training in 
oral speech and written language, and the pupils be- 
come a social cooperative body. They no longer feel 
that the sole requirement of the room is to satisfy the 
teacher or some standard of which they are not even 
dimly conscious. The feeling created is they have 
something to do that is important, and they are re- 
sponsible for its success or failure. The teacher is no 

[72] 



THE RECITATION AS A MEDIUM 

longer the moral, social, and intellectual standard of 
the room. The room becomes social and democratic. 

The Recitation — an Active Period of Pupil Respon- 
sibility. The recitation is to become an active period, 
and no longer a listening period. The child is to be- 
come a doer and not a passive listener. The class is 
the active part of the recitation — not the teacher. 
The teacher no longer recites, no longer asks ques- 
tions and receives answers. The teacher's work be- 
comes now, one of planning and of management. The 
teacher merely directs, counsels with the pupils, advises 
and leads, without dominating and suppressing the 
physical and mental childhood within the room. If 
there are stubborn cases of discipline, the pride and 
honor of the room must settle" that. If there are dirty 
boys and girls as members of the class, the self-respect 
and honor of the class must tend to that. If there are 
members of the class whose conduct, speech, actions, 
and manners are detrimental to good citizenship, the 
honor of the class, the respect of the class will remedy 
that. So the class and the recitation become one and 
the same thing. The schoolroom thus organized meets 
the many conditions imposed, and this is the only way, 
as schools are to-day organized, in which it can be met. 

The Recitation — a Planned Period of Pupil Activ- 
ity. The old order of conditions, wherein discipline 
was conceived to be most perfect when all children were 
so suppressed that quietness reigned and all moved as 
one, must pass. Order to-day is quiet activity whereni 
each member of a class recognizes the rights of others 
and acts accordingly. This requires teaching. By 

[73] 



MORAL EDUCATION 



^ 



teaching we do not mean the developing, presenting 
and carrying into effect the formal steps of instruction 
at every period of the day, but rather so planning, and 
so organizing the work and the room, that the pupils 
become seekers, searchers, and workers, with only now 
and then the formal presentation of a lesson. When 
this formal presentation is given, it covers what is 
known as a subject matter whole, that is, a large enough 
topic or subject to employ the activities of the class for 
a considerable length of time. 

The Recitation — a Period of Moral Training. The 
usual subjects of instruction in the schools will if 
rightly used provide opportunity in this new order or 
recitation for moral training. We consider moral 
training by far the more important phase of moral 
education in the elementary school. The material of 
the several subjects of the school curriculum should be 
supplemented with additional material from literature, 
for the purpose of establishing right ideals and motives. 
The children themselves should be given opportunity 
to display the several virtues or habits of respect toward 
one another; to be courteous in speech and in action; 
to be helpful about the room; to be industrious in all 
that they do ; to assist one another ; to provide for the 
general welfare of the room and for all those details 
that go to make a boy or a girl helpful, clean and 
wholesome. This the recitation can do if the teacher 
plans the work in such a manner that the pupils are 
given the opportunity to practice that which they can 
do well. If the teacher wishes to inculcate the habit 
of courtesy in speech, she must provide innumerable 

[ 74 ] ■ 



THE RECITATION AS A MEDIUM 

opportunities for the pupils to address one another in 
the recitation. This is easily done without sacrificing 
any part of the content of the recitation on the in- 
structional side. 

Socializing the Recitation. If good manners or good 
morals are to become a part of the schoolroom, the 
children must receive training throughout the entire 
day. This training shall be in the form of practice in 
doing the very thing desired. Little will be accom- 
plished by giving a ten-minute lesson in the morn- 
ing upon good manners, respect, helpfulness, kind- 
ness, and those several topics and subjects which are 
usually given a ten-minute place in the program in the 
morning and forgotten for the rest of the day. Such 
topics and others equally important should receive the 
major part of the attention and planning so far as the 
moral training and character of the child is concerned. 
The subject matter, then, of the curriculum if rightly 
used, will become a valuable means for moral training. 
Nothing is lost and the subject matter itself becomes 
socialized and humanized. It is given a meaning far 
more important than it would otherwise have for the 
child. To let the children work out together their read- 
ing lesson, their history or their geography lesson, will 
vitalize the information obtained. It will be colored 
by that direct experience which means, for the moral 
life, feeling and emotional tones. Let the room and 
the recitation be socialized and humanized. Take the 
recitation out of the mechanical form of question and 
answer, of repeating what you know about the sub- 
ject, and the room becomes life-like. It all depends 

[75] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

upon the manner in which the recitation period is used 
for training the child. The training he should receive 
is the training given through the direct activity of the 
child's doing the right thing from impulses or motives 
that have become part of the child's desire. 

A Working Morality. Morality does not consist of 
abstract thoughts. Good citizenship does not consist of 
talk about ideals. The highest morality and best citi- 
zenship is in doing an honest piece of work with a 
sincere motive and purpose. For the mechanic, for 
the child, morality and citizenship is in doing effec- 
tively and efficiently with right motives the thing in 
hand. This may be termed a working morality, but 
it is the type of moral training most needed to-day. 
The recitation period, then, should be devoted to train- 
ing the child rather than instructing the child. The 
child will get the instruction of necessity if the material 
or content of instruction is placed at his disposal in 
such a way that he may, as a worker, use it in practic- 
ing good speech, good manners, thinking, doing, co- 
operating, and building up habits that become right 
moral action. 



iye^ 



CHAPTER IX 
RELIGION AND MORALITY 

Relation Between Morality and Religion. Morality 
derives its validity from its relation to religion. The 
roots of the moral life lie deeply imbedded in the re- 
ligious nature of man. Man is religious and always 
has been. Just as man is social in nature, so is he 
religious in nature. There is the religious conscious- 
ness just as there is the aesthetic consciousness. 

What Religion Is. Religion is worship. This wor- 
ship is given expression in the form of aesthetics. Man 
builds temples, beautifies and decorates them. He 
builds them to an unseen deity. He enters his temple 
and worships by giving expression to his emotional 
nature in the form of song or spoken word. He does 
all this in order to affirm his relation to a more or 
less unknown God and more or less unknown order. 
By so doing, he attempts to establish his relation to an 
immortal life. This relation established carries with it 
obligations and duties. Man must so live that the 
" maximum of his conduct shall become a law uni- 
versal." Religion, then, in its highest sense is a com- 
plete harmony of man with his God. Man lives in 
loving and reverent dependence upon his God. This 
establishes the moral life. If conduct falls short of 

[77^ 



MORAL EDUCATION 

this ideal, man suffers accordingly. If he measures 
to it, he is rewarded. The matter of virtues and vices, 
of rewards and punishment, follow inevitably from 
man's conceived relation to the mysterious order of 
creation. For ^' Whatsoever a man soweth that shall 
he also reap." This holds true in life here and here- 
after. 

Morality Rooted in Religious Nature of Man. Mo- 
rality and the moral life finds its sanction in the reli- 
gious nature of man. It has for its complete aim an 
ideal society in which man labors to better humanity, 
and to bring all mankind into more complete social liv- 
ing and complete harmony with the conception of 
life as it should be. Morality, then, may be con- 
ceived of as the highest form of social living, or it 
may be looked upon as a part of religious culture. 
In either case, it has its twofold aspect — moral in- 
struction and moral training. To a very large degree, 
then, morality is determined by religious motives and 
religious sanctions. If we regard moral education from 
the religious standpoint, then, the religious motives 
must determine the moral life of the child. This form 
of moral instruction could not be taught in the day- 
schools. Only the home and the church can carry 
on moral instruction from such a standpoint. 

Morality — Future Rewards and Punishments. A 
belief in future rewards and punishments carries with 
it a force and a power that upholds goodness and re- 
strains wrong action. It is of value. Religion does 
contribute, in this respect, that which is helpful. If, 
as it will be objected, this is not the highest moral form 

[78] 



RELIGION AND MORALITY 

of living, it is to be added that the restraint which 
such rehgious motives throw about the hfe of the 
young is to be preferred to a looseness in living that 
tends to lower the moral life of the growing boy or 
girl. It must also not be forgotten that human nature 
is not perfection. A series of penalties and rewards 
seem to be necessary in order to guide and direct 
aright the untrained and undeveloped. If there are no 
consequences dependent upon the act, the untrained and 
undeveloped life has but little reason for living up to 
a standard of social and moral culture which means 
nothing to the primitive nature in man. The virtues 
are deeply rooted in the religious life and find their 
sanction there. These virtues should be developed in 
every child. Children should be taught obedience, rev- 
erence, gratitude, good-will, love, and their dependence 
upon a divinity " that shapes our ends, rough hew 
them how we may." 

Spiritual Life in Relation to Moral Education. The 
higher form of the spiritual life and therefore of 
the moral life with the increasing understanding 
and wisdom of the individual will be brought about. 
If such is his desire and will from experience 
and increasing wisdom, the child passes gradually into 
the larger life of living, into larger experiences of the 
social life, with right living as its own end, aim, and 
sanction. This, however, can never be brought about 
without moral training in the early life and moral in- 
struction with the growing powers of the child. 

Problem — How Solved? The problem which the 
public school has to solve is that most vexed problem 

[79] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

of how shall it be done with a population consisting 
of opposed doctrines and creeds. The religious instruc- 
tion and moral training in the home, if given in the 
home, can be in accord and quite in keeping with the 
ideals of the home. But, in a public school the case is 
quite different. The doctrines and beliefs of the 
Hebrew, the Catholic, and the Protestant portion of our 
population must be considered. They represent con- 
troversies and ideals that have their roots deep in the 
past. Therefore, nothing conflicting with such beliefs 
can be allowed to become a part of the moral instruction 
given in public schools. 

Individual Versus National or Universal Ideas. The 
case, however, is quite different with individual notions 
and pecuHarities. We cannot allow individual ideas 
that are particularly individual to determine the course 
of action in so large an institution as the public school 
system. To do so would be to allow ourselves to be 
controlled by a small minority. France is an illustra- 
tion of religious restriction carried to the extreme. 
The differences, however, existing between such large 
and powerful portions of our population as that 
which exists between Jews, Catholics, and Protestants 
must be recognized and dealt with without controversy. 

Suggestions as to Solution: i. Public School. 
There are several ways in which the problems may be 
solved. There is, however, but one practical way in 
which all the children may be reached and instructed 
properly and effectively. If the problem is of sufficient 
importance, and it is recognized at present as most 
fundamental, the public school curriculum should pro- 

[So] 



RELIGION AND MORALITY 

vide for moral training and instruction. The question 
of method and material of instruction is discussed in 
another chapter. The method and material is, however, 
a matter of secondary importance. The great problem 
is to provide the time and the means for such 
instruction. 

2. Church. This can be done by rearranging the 
time schedule of recitation in the school, allowing time 
for one hour per day of moral training and instruction, 
or, if deemed advisable, to give up one day or such part 
of a day as is considered advisable to such instruction. 
The children of the several faiths and beliefs could 
be assembled in their several rooms, where instruction 
could be given by those appointed by the several church 
authorities or such other authorities as a community 
might agree upon. These teachers are not necessarily 
the day-school teachers. The teachers who' give such 
instruction represent the community interests. This 
would be a matter for the church authorities, for the 
school authorities, and the parents of the community 
to agree upon. 

Plan Explained. It is a very practical way of solving 
the problem. A somewhat similar plan has been 
adopted by Germany and Austria. In several com- 
munities in our own country almost the same plan 
has been carried out. Such a plan allows Catholics to 
instruct children of that belief. Protestants instruct 
Protestants. Jewish children also are instructed by 
their own teachers. If such a plan should be adopted 
by a community, those responsible should insist upon 
competent instruction. The personality, the devo- 

[8i] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

tion, and earnestness of the teacher are too im- 
portant to be given a secondary place in such an es- 
sential matter as moral training and religious instruc- 
tion. Mechanical or perfunctory instruction will 
accomplish little good. The time devoted to the work 
is unimportant unless the instruction be right. 

Religion and Progressive Social Efficiency. While 
morality has its roots deeply imbedded in religion and 
has derived its sanction and its validity from religion, 
nevertheless, there is a distinction which is most ap- 
parent. Religion itself is undergoing a change. The 
religion of the present and of the future is one of 
service rather than of worship. Religion is becoming 
moral or social in its operation. Religion finds ex- 
pression to-day in working for the general good, 
rather than for a creed or doctrine. It is becoming 
more vital. It concerns itself less with sermons and 
ritual, and more with practical good and the right 
development of man. 

Society and Man. Life is no longer measured by 
material wealth. A man's value for the betterment of 
the community counts for more than does his bank 
account or his church attendance. This is a most 
significant change and speaks for the new conception 
of social service in an ethical or moral sense. Good 
will and efficiency in service are increasing in impor- 
tance and in impressiveness among men. Men are of 
value and importance as they serve best. Man reaches 
a high level of attainment not through material suc- 
cess, but through service rendered to humanity. This 
does not mean that the religious conscience is disap- 

[ 82 ] 




RELIGION AND MORALITY 

pearing, but rather that it is finding itself in a larger 
field of good. It means that there are times when all 
denominations work together in a community with 
enthusiasm and conviction for good. People thus 
associated accomplish much. It is not a question of 
denomination. It is not a question of creed. It is a 
question of man and his good. 

Problem — Betterment of Man. People of differ- 
ent temperaments will stand together and worship 
according to that which appeals to their emotions. 
This is inevitable and proper. It does not deny the 
value of a creed or affirm that denominations must 
disappear. It establishes, however, the fact that the 
betterment in man is the fundamental purpose of the 
religious conscience and its expression is in works. 

Moral Life and Social Service. The moral life is 
then also the spiritual life, and it expresses itself in 
terms of social service rather than in terms of church 
ceremony. It finds its highest expression in doing 
justice to man, in loving mercy and truth, in walking 
humbly before God, and rendering such service as he 
is capable of, and making better the thing touched. To 
labor for the general good, to give of your spirit and 
enthusiasm for good, to help the unfortunate, to labor 
for the permanent well-being of those whose abilities, 
advantages, and opportunities have been of an inferior 
order, is to express a religious impulse of the highest 
order and consequently a moral order of supreme value. 
Moral education, then, deals primarily in the early life 
of the child with those faculties that respond to the 
unseen and unknown. These faculties are more active 

[ 83 ] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

in early life than in later life. If they are well de- 
veloped they are foundation stones of good character. 

Religious Instruction as Related to Character. The 
religious instruction and moral training of the present 
day should supply the young with principles of living 
fit for the foundation of good character, and should 
be worked out in concrete habits. Great and good 
characters can be used to teach religious principles. 
These characters may be selected from biblical litera- 
ture or from modern life. Religious instruction and 
moral training should furnish the child with concrete 
ideas. It should use the fundamental instincts to 
create the deeper motives. If character is to be formed 
nothing can accomplish it so surely as religious teaching 
and training. 

Children Wanting in Reverence. The one great 
thing needed by the present generation is more rever- 
ence, more self-control, more moral discipline, and a 
release from the moral poverty with which it is struck. 
Man should become a master of himself rather than 
a slave to his low and cheap desires. The community 
is rich. Luxury is at hand. Pleasure is the thing 
sought and the ideal is success. The child early begins 
to lead the life of an adult, whereas children should 
remain children as long as they are children. 

Need of Strengthening in Vital Principles. The new 
order of training children begins with the nursery. 
The child is not trained to submit to command, or to 
that which is proper, but too often is allowed to do as 
he pleases. Sometimes children are coaxed to change 
their minds, sometimes persuaded, and sometimes 

[84] 



RELIGION AND MORALITY 

bought, but seldom is it that the child obeys from the 
principle of obedience. No one who has not learned to 
obey can be master of himself. 

Play Spirit and Growing Life. In the kindergarten 
children play. This spirit creeps into the other years 
of school life and the path of least resistance is fol- 
lowed. Children learn to make a few pretty things in 
school. They toy with basket-making and mat-weav- 
ing, and make many useless things. But the chief 
things which make life worth living seem to disappear. 
Duty, responsibility, respect, industry, quietness, good 
manners, and those other virtues which make people 
delightful are passed by to make room for the ''do as 
you please and follow your own inclination " order. 
The lesson of self-control and self -discipline should be 
learned by all, and until it is learned we must pay a 
heavy price for the luxury of indifference and waste in 
the spiritual as well as in the material life. 

Trifling Remedies Prescribed. All kinds of little 
remedies are prescribed and offered as cures. Sex 
education is one of them. But profound knowledge 
of the sexual life will neither help the individual nor 
the community, until the individual has learned the 
lesson of self-control as well as that of his social obli- 
gations, and has acquired the will power to suppress 
his immoral impulses. It is necessary that a serious 
appeal be made to the conscience of men and that 
children are once more trained to believe in, and exer- 
cise that control necessary to make them self-respect- 
ing, right living and acting individuals. 

[85] 



CHAPTER X 



TTIECONTENT OF MORAL EDUCATION 



Importance Acknowledged but Insistence Wanting. 
There is no subject so much discussed at the present 
time as moral education, and there is no subject in 
which the content of instruction, the material of in- 
struction, and the methods of instruction are so uncer- 
tain. The difficulty is that it has been discussed, but 
society at large has not insisted upon its being done. 
Until the community does insist, ways and means will 
not be provided. 

Content of Moral Instruction. As regards the con- 
tent of moral instruction, it is to be kept in mind that 
the instruction and training must find a point of con- 
tact with the child's point of view. The content, then, 
should consist, at any given stage, of those principles 
of the moral life that find a place in the child's grow- 
ing nature and activity, conditioned by the instincts in 
control at that time, and it should meet with a ready 
response from the child itself. It would be useless to 
lay down lines of conduct and principles of action that 
make no appeal to the child's nature. The material, 
then, of moral instruction must bear and have a definite 
relation to the principles of the moral Hfe, and this 

[86] 



THE CONTENT OF MORAL EDUCATION 

material should be such that it finds ready expression 
in the concrete life of the child. 

Period of Life Considered. The teacher must take 
into consideration the stage or period of life with 
which he or she is deahng. In the primary school one 
is dealing with a certain condition of intellect, of 
feeling, and of will, that is, a definite period of child- 
hood. From the ages nine to fourteen we are dealing 
with another period of childhood. Therefore, the moral 
instruction should be in keeping. Political and eco- 
nomical problems should not constitute the main 
features of moral instruction in the primary school, 
but problems of the social life, problems of respect, 
kindness, love, afTection, and so forth, are the themes 
or topics with which the primary teacher deals, and in 
the main these problems enlarged according to the 
growing nature of the child to meet his expanding life, 
are the problems with which the grammar school deals 
also. The simple moral precepts, the simple ethics of 
the family life, examples of personal endeavor, ex- 
amples and instruction of ideal manhood and woman- 
hood, appeal to pupils in the elementary school. In the 
adolescent period the boy and the girl feel within them- 
selves expanding life, the branching out, as it were, of 
their physical activities, of their enlarged interests. It 
is no longer the home life alone, it is not the one envi- 
ronment to which they have become accustomed, it is 
the larger affairs of life with its complex relations that 
belong to the developing boy and girl. They wish to 
find themselves active in affairs of the world. This 
demands, then, a readjustment of their social con- 

[87] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

cepts, a development of political concepts and an 
enlargement of the concept of individual efficiency. 

Course of Study. Courses of study are easily made 
and outlines of work are readily fashioned, but it is 
not our purpose to indicate in any detailed way such 
a course or outline. We shall merely indicate in a 
general way the prominent factors observed in this 
investigation of children. The results were such, and 
these factors so prominent, that we include them in 
more or less of a schematic way for the use and service 
of those who are interested. 

Division of Course of Work. Any course of work in 
moral instruction and training must, therefore, be 
divided as has already been indicated in a previous 
chapter as material for instruction and finally for moral 
training. The work of the first four years of the 
school life should consist principally of moral training. 
The content of instruction should consist of stories, 
poems, readings, directions, and memory work such as 
appeal to the child at that state and age of its progress. 
It must also fall within the experiences of the child. 
We may then divide the work somewhat as follows : 

1. Instruction. Instruction should be given using 
the material that will assist in the training planned for 
the pupils. This material will consist of stories taken 
from history or literature, and poems appealing to the 
instinct which we desire to further develop and use for 
the child's best good. 

2. Training. By training we understand securing on 
the part of the child a definite reaction in certain help- 
ful and beneficial ways. That is, the habit of cleanli- 

[88] 



THE CONTENT OF MORAL EDUCATION 

ness is established, the habit of obedience, the habit of 
self-control and the habit of good manners. 

(a) Cleanliness. This requires much care and ef- 
fort on the part of a child's parents and teachers. The 
child should be trained to be clean in all his personal 
ways, not only as regards his hands, face and body, but 
his clothing — clean with all that he does and with all 
that he handles. 

(b) Obedience. Obedience is a virtue which should 
be early established in the child's life. It carries with 
it the idea of quietness and silence, order and respect. 

(c) Good Manners. By good manners we mean 
that politeness in speech and action that indicates a 
spirit of good-will, respect, and intelligent action, that 
should bespeak every well-trained boy or girl. 

(d) Kindness. This refers to all acts of the child 
as regards his relation and attitude toward all people 
and all things. 

(e) Truthfulness. This is a most important and 
fundamental virtue, and the child should be taught 
early, and trained to be true at all times to things 
as they are and in no way avoid the consequences of 
acts by resorting to deceit and falsehood. 

(f) Promptness and Punctuality. This implies 
obedience to promise, faithfulness to tasks assumed, 
and means much for the child's success in life. 

(g) Helpfulness. This is a habit and is peculiarly 
one of training. It is perhaps in a way a more or less 
superficial virtue. One may be careless in his habits 
and still possess good-will. Helpfulness is a matter of 
forming the habit of doing those little things that count 

[89] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

for much, such as care of clothing, care of personal 
things, leaving things where we find them, putting 
things in their proper places, assisting others whenever 
opportunity presents itself. 

(h) Respect. Respect for one's superiors, respect 
for the right, respect for one's elders, respect for age, 
respect for all things of worth and value, and apprecia- 
tion of worth and acknowledgment of value. 

(i) Industry. Faithfulness to tasks imposed or as- 
sumed. The habit of doing one's part. The habit of 
not letting others do that which is ours to do. 

(j) Good-will. To build up the right motives and, 
therefore, the right attitude toward all humans; to be 
possessed of the spirit of kindness and good-will and 
generousness. This carries with it also the idea of 
peace and its fruits. 

(k) Generosity. Shares with the less fortunate in 
and out of school. Yielding in games and play where 
no principle of honor is involved. Kind in judging 
one another. 

(1) Patriotism. Wise celebration of national holi- 
days. Care of public property, parks,, and lawns. 
Care for public health. Sanitary back-yards and so 
forth. 

(m) Responsibility. Holding one's self strictly ac- 
countable for that which one is capable of doing, and 
which will be of advantage to one's self and others. 
Doing the right thing so far as strength and capacity 
permit. 

(n) Punctuality. Being on time at work and at 
school. Punctuality begets confidence and respect. 

[90] 



THE CONTENT OF MORAL EDUCATION 

Keeping one's word as to time in all engagements, 
and being faithful in all appointments. 

Three Fundamental Concepts of Life. The moral 
life is intimately connected with three fundamental 
concepts of life — ^the social, the political, and the in- 
dividual. Instruction in moral civics and in civics as 
such is fundamental at this stage. The boy and the 
girl must understand and see clearly what the political 
in a democracy means. They must also be taught to 
see the moral and ethical relation of the new society 
of which they are to form a part and in which they 
are to be active. Individual efficiency also demands a 
reconstruction, not only of the concept of efficiency, but 
of the moral side of the same, for the boy and the girl 
now begin to feel manhood and womanhood spring- 
ing up within them, and they must be taught clearly 
what these things mean in relation to their changing 
social conditions. This demands wise instruction and 
thoughtful teachers. It cannot be given in any hap- 
hazard, mechanical way. It demands the highest kind 
of teaching. It is really the fundamental thing in 
school instruction. If it is not, the more intellectual 
teaching is of practically no account. It demands care- 
ful thought on the part of the teacher, careful prepara- 
tion, careful and systematic study with judgment and 
with wisdom. Too many teachers have little or no 
conception themselves of what these things mean. 
Self-control, respect, and loyalty on the part of teachers 
is often wanting as well as on the part of pupils. 

Instruction in Grammar School. Instruction in the 
fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth years of the grammar 

[91] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

school should be more fully developed and more widely 
applied in practice than in the preceding years of the 
school life. It should consist, however, of instruction 
and training following the line of work laid down for 
the first four years of the child's school life. We 
may divide the work a little more carefully and a little 
more in detail, outlining the work for each of the 
several years. 

Fifth Year 

1. Instruction. Instruction should be given using the 
material that will assist in the training planned for the 
pupils for this year. This material should consist of 
stories from the Bible, from literature, from history, 
from biography, and such other material as will de- 
velop those ideals and ideas which are to be given a 
definite place in the training and practice of the pupil 
for this year. 

2. Training. Providing concrete experiences. 

(a) Nobility. Manliness. Generosity. Self-denial 
and self-sacrifice for others. Bravery in helping or 
saving others. Confession of injury done to another. 

(b) Courage. Doing the right thing no matter what 
it costs. Doing the right thing in the schoolroom, in 
school work, on the street, in the homCo Moral 
courage. 

(c) Perseverance. Doing the hard or disagreeable 
tasks in the right spirit. Never letting down in the 
struggle to accomplish the task. Fighting hard to the 
end in play and in work. 

[92] 



THE CONTENT OF MORAL EDUCATION 

(d) Self-control. On the street, in the home, in 
the school. 

(e) Honor. Doing the manly and the womanly 
thing. Not changing because of the effect upon one's 
self. Keeping promises. Doing the honorable thing. 
Holding fast to the right in spite of influence. 

(f) Respect and Reverence. For parents. For 
teachers. For the aged. For those who have done 
distinguished service. For those in authority. 

(g) Gratitude and Thankfulness. To parents. To 
all benefactors. To God the giver of all good. 

(h) Forgiveness. Of all those who confess their 
faults. Of those who have wronged us. Of our ene- 
mies. Generosity in dealing with the faults of others. 

(i) Confession. Of all wrong done another. 
Frankness and candor. 

(j) Honesty. In keeping one's word. In little 
things. Cheating in anything is ignoble and base. 
Honesty is the right thing. 

(k) Good Manners. General, at home, at school, 
at church, in conversation, in public, on the street, in 
an audience or assemblage. 

Sixth Year 

I. Instruction. Establish an ideal for this year. 
Use the proper literature to develop it, to give it a 
content and enrich its meaning. Use stories and 
poems, biographies, history. Let the ideal be heroes. 
A hero is a real man or a real woman. Use the stories 
of living men and women. 

[93] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

2. Training. Providing concrete experiences. 

(a) Honor. To honor one's self. To honor one's 
family. To honor one's friends. To honor one's 
home. To honor one's country. To honor truth. 

(b) Courage. True courage — daring to do right 
and to defend the right. Faults — daring to do or de- 
fend the wrong. True courage is bearing unjust cen- 
sure or enduring unpopularity when you are right. 
Courage in danger or misfortune. Heroism. 

(c) Humility. True greatness — not blind to one's 
own faults. Modesty. Avoid pride and vanity. Self- 
conceit is a sign of self-deception. True humility is 
not servility. 

(d) Self-respect. Not conceit — but based on con- 
scious moral worth. Not self-admiration. Results in 
personal dignity. Distinguish between self-love and 
selfishness. " Be not wise in your own conceit." 

(e) Self-control. Control of temper. Avoid hasty 
words. Be not provoked. Self-restraint. Rule your 
own spirit. 

(f) Good Manners.. General, at home, at school, 
at church, in conversation, in public, on the street, in 
an audience or assemblage. 

Seventh Year 

I. Instruction. Instruction this year should take 
place through discussion and readings from all material 
that can be brought to bear and be of use in developing 
the main theme for the year which is service. Pupils at 
this age should begin to appreciate and realize that all 
are dependent one upon another, and that social service 

[94] 



THE CONTENT OF MORAL EDUCATION 

is the high mark of young manhood and womanhood. 

(a) Service to be rendered the home. 

(b) Service to be rendered the school. 

(c) Service to be rendered the community. 

(d) Service to be rendered the state. 

(e) The debt we owe others in service given us. 

(f) Service to be rendered to one's self, in order to 
become an intelligent and thoughtful member of society. 

2. Training. Providing concrete experiences. 

(a) Prudence. In speech and action. Respect for 
the opinion of others. " Judge not that ye be not 
judged." 

(b) Good Name. Keeping a good name. Keeping 
good company. Earning a good name when young. 
The difference between reputation and character. 

(c) Good Manners. At home. In school. In 
company. As a visitor or guest. In public assemblies. 
On the street. Politeness to strangers. 

(d) Health. Duty to preserve health. Habits that 
impair the health, foolish and sinful. The body never 
forgives or forgets its abuse. To observe the laws of 
health is a duty. Sowing wild oats. 

(e) Temperance. Moderation in the enjoyment of 
the appetite. Abstain from that which is injurious. 
Courage to resist temptation. Cigarette smoking. 

(f) Evil Habits. Those that injure health. Those 
that destroy reputation. Those that dishonor one's self 
and family. Those that take away self-control. 
Gambling. Those that are offensive to others. Habits 
such as prevent one from holding positions of trust and 
responsibility. 

[95] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

Eighth Year 

1. Instruction. Continue the theme of social service 
and nobihty of character. The hterature or material 
for this purpose is abundant. 

2. Training. Providing concrete experiences. 

(a) Bad Language. Profanity is vulgar and 
v^icked. Obscenity is base and offensive. The use of 
slang is vulgar and impolite. 

(b) Evil Speaking. Slander is a serious offense. 
Repeating evil is base and low. 

(c) Industry. Work is a duty and a privilege. 
Labor is honorable. Self-support gives manly inde- 
pendence. Avoid debts. The right use of time. 

(d) Economy. Saving of time and money means 
comfort and independence. It is a duty to save a part 
of one's earnings. Extravagance is wrong. Wasted 
time destroys social service and injures others. 
Wasted energy is a burden to both home and society. 
The right use of time. 

(e) Patriotism. The true meaning of patriotism. 
Noble motives are a public good. Love of country 
and obedience to a high sense of service to man and 
State. 

(f) Civic Duties. Obedience to law. Respect for 
authority. The meaning of perjury. The meaning of 
bribery. Dignity and honor of good citizenship. 

(g) Gratitude and Loyalty. Shown by regard for 
public and private property, and by habits of industry 
and usefulness. Gratitude to the community for school 
privileges and for other community and State privi- 

[96] 



THE CONTENT OF MORAL EDUCATION 

leges. Respect for and observance of days set aside 
for honoring the worthy. 

(h) Duty and Responsibility. Imposed by privi- 
leges and opportunities for education, health and ser- 
vice. Assuming responsibility, and nobility of being 

self-directing. 



[97] 



CHAPTER XI 
WHAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE DONE 

Record of an Added Investigation. The results of 
this investigation would be incomplete without the 
added record of another experiment covering a period 
of ten years. This period of years overlaps or in- 
cludes, the five years of investigation already referred 
to, and contains the records of the same boys and girls, 
and the following facts are the records of work, and 
influence of the public school upon seven hundred 
grammar and high school boys. 

Statement of Investigation. For ten years a com- 
plete and accurate record of all boys and girls gradu- 
ating from the high and grammar schools, with which 
the writer has been associated either in the capacity of 
principal or superintendent, was kept. A complete and 
accurate record of all boys and girls for that length of 
time who have not graduated from either grammar or 
high school was also kept. This record called for all 
facts concerning the school record of these boys and 
girls, and in addition, what they did and how well they 
did it for five years after leaving school. This involved 
a great deal of work, but a careful and sympathetic 
interest was kept up in each case, so that the writer 
might be able to judge accurately of the progress or 

[98] 



WHAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE DONE 

failure of the boy or girl in life. Many of these young 
people were situated so that the writer met them often 
during the year. Others were in colleges where it was 
possible to get accurate reports of their work and 
progress. Some were at a distance with whom it was 
necessary to correspond to the extent of keeping in 
touch with what they were doing. Sometimes and 
often it was possible to get an accurate statement from 
their employers as regards their work, service, and 
progress. 

Method of Investigation. By means of letter and 
personal association this record was kept for a period 
of ten years. This was done in order to make a com- 
parison of the product of our public schools, and the 
efficiency of the public school with the work done by 
those who did not complete its course. 

Results — Grammar School Boys. For obvious rea- 
sons only boys are considered here — 500 grammar 
school boys and 200 high school boys. Of the 500 
grammar school boys considered 321 of them entered 
high school. The remaining 179 left school between 
the sixth and eighth year of the grammar school 
course. A tabulated list of the occupations taken up 
by these 179 boys follows: 

49, clerical positions in New York City, paying from $5 to 
$12 a week. At the end of four years their economic posi- 
tions were practically the same. 

5, plumbing; the pay at the end of four years was union 
wages. Success at trade, good. 

17, grocery delivery clerks, wage at the end of four years 
was $7 to $9. At the end of four years they were doing the 
same thing. 

[99] 



MORAL EDUCATION 

6, hack or cab drivers. Same at the end of four years. 
4, no particular work. At home. 

3, blacksmiths. Wage, $2 per day at the end of four years. 

2, telephone operators. Same at the end of four years. 
I, driver of milk wagon, $8 per week. 

3, clerks in drug store. Average wage, $7 per week. 
41, day laborers. Wage, $1 to $1.50 at the end of four years. 

8, farm hands. Wage, $24 per month at the end of four 
years. 

1, baggageman. Wage, $1.25 per day at the end of four 
years. 

2, sailors. Wage not known. 

2, janitor's assistants. Wage at the end of four years, $20 
per month with board. 

7, messenger boys. 'Same at the end of four years. 
20, floaters — odd jobs — failures. 

3, reform school. 

3, died. 

I, machine shop. Successful. 

I, in business for self. Doing very well. 

Results — 321 Entering High School. Of the 321 

entering high school the following tabulated list gives 
their career for a period of five years. The careers of 
those leaving high school before the completion of the 
course will be given first : 

18, entered a business college to complete work quickly. 
Took positions as stenographers. Doing well. 

4, bank clerks. Still bank clerks. Wage, $60 per month. 

5, private schools. Completed course. Entered college. 
Did well. Now in business. 

II, insurance clerks. Doing well. Wages, $15 per week. 

9, carpenters. Wage $3 per day. 
19, day laborers. Wage $1.50 per day. 

5, grocer's clerks. Wage $8 per week. 

[ 100 ] 



WHAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE DONE 

2, surveyor's assistants. Wage, $1.50 per day. 

3, electricians. Wage $1.75 per day. 
7, idlers. Live at home. 

4, masons. Wage $3.50-$4.oo per day. Doing exception- 
ally well, 

1, iron foundry. Wage, $1.65 per day. Doing well. 

4, letter-carriers. 
3, truck-gardeners. 

2, barbers. Wage $9 per week. 

3, bell boys. Wage unknown. 
I, hardware trade. Failure. 

6, trolley-car conductors. Faithful employees. 

I, with father in mercantile business. Doing well, 

1, telephone lineman. $2.00 per day. 

2, farmers. 

2, died. 

3, paper trade. Doing exceptionally well. 

1, reporter. Very successful. 

2, custom house. $100 per month. Doing well. 

1, a very successful retail grocer. 

Results — Students Graduating from High School. 

The schools of the students whose records are indi- 
cated in the tabulated lists were situated in towns 
suburban to New York City. The majority of the 
pupils entering high school graduated. The per cent 
entering college was large. Of the 200 graduating 
from high school, 151 entered colleges or technical 
schools. The record for the forty-nine who did not 
enter college reads as follows : 

6, studied law in night law course. Are successful. 

5, mercantile trade. Doing well. 
9, mechanics. Wage, $2.75-$3.50. 

7, life insurance. Fine business men. Successful. 

2, painters. Doing fairly well. 



MORAL EDUCATION 

I, trainman. Wage $50 per month. 

1, fireman. Wage $60 per month. 
5, odd jobs. Not successful. 

2, heads of departments of a department store. Successful. 

3, advertising business. Successful. 

4, stenographers. Doing very well. 

1, stationery store. Quite successful. 

2, carpenters. Wage $3-$4 per day. 
I, painter, earns a living. 

Results — Students Entering College. The record 
for the 151 entering college is as follows: 

7, failed to complete course. They are engaged in busi- 
ness and doing fairly well. One is unusually successful. 

24, completed work in engineering courses and are earning 
from $1500 to $3000 per year. 
15, are practicing physicians. 
18, completed law courses. All are doing well. 

3, ministers. 

1, charge of city electrical plant in Iowa. Large salary. 
10, successful electricians, with corporations. 

17, teachers. Successful. 

5, traveling salesmen. Successful. 

4, died. 

8, in business with father. Hard to decide as to success. 
4, manufacturing. Doing well. 

7, fail to attach themselves to any particular occupation. 
Not successful. 

2, importers. 

I, author and writer. 

3, druggists. Successful. 

3, farmers. Scientific courses in agriculture. Successful. 
12, with New York insurance companies. Salary not 
known. They are successful. 

3, architects. Doing fairly well. 

4, commercial life. Seem to be successful. 

[ 102 ] 



WHAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE DONE 

Conclusion. From the foregoing record it is in- 
ferred that the work and influence of the pubUc school 
is good. The grammar school boy is too often judged 
by the business man, using standards that have taken 
years of experience for the business man to attain. 
The conspicuously weak spot in the education of the 
boys and girls of to-day is the home. The weak spot 
in the school is the lack of enough thoroughly trained 
and successful teachers. There are too many young 
girls who lack tact and understanding. Fortunately we 
do not have more than two or three in a large school. 
The school is doing more than its part. The home is 
not handling its problem as well as it did fifteen years 
ago. This is noticeable in suburban communities. It 
has been our observation and experience that those 
pupils who fail to complete or master the public school 
work fail in very much the same way in life. 

The Need of a Properly Equipped High School. A 
well organized and practically equipped high school 
that adjusts its work to the needs of the community is 
indispensable to the needed and complete training of 
the boy and girl. It is necessary for the boy who seeks 
preparation for a business or commercial or profes- 
sional career to be carried to that point where he is 
enabled to master details of the particular work 
chosen. He is not mature enough at fourteen to 
enter life or enter upon a business career. The high 
school enables him to profitably employ his time and 
ability in more thorough preparation for his work. 
This presumes that the high school is adjusted to the 
needs of the community. 

[ 103 ] 



< 



INDEX 



Activity, pupil, ^2 
character of, ^2 
American civilization, three 
fundamental principles 

of, 53 
Art of teaching, 50 

Body, hygiene of, 54 
Beliefs, opposed, 80 

Character, place of, i 
related to religious moral 
teaching, 84 

Children, 84 
wanting in reverence, 84 
trifling remedies prescribed, 

need of strengthening in vital 
. principles, 84 

growing life of, 85 

play spirit of, 85 
Church, 5, 36, 81 
Citizenship, 'j^ 

morality of, 76 

training for, 76 
City Hfe, Z7 

its influences, zi 
Cleanliness, 89 
Community, 5 
Confession, 93 
Contact, point of, 51 

personal, 51 
Correlation of religious train- 
ing and deportment, 
10, II 

home training and deport- 
ment, 10, II 

scholarship and deportment, 
10, 14 
Courage, 92, 94 
Course of study, 88 

divisions of, 88 

[I 



instruction, 88 
training, 88 

Deportment, 

how determined, 10 

factors used, 10 

judgment, how formed, 11 
Doctrines, opposed, 80 
Duties, civic, 96 

Economy, 96 

Education, moral demand for, 

^' 3 . 

Efficiency, social relation to re- 
ligion, 82 
Ethical instruction, 41, 42, 43 
Evil speaking, 96 

Food and sleep, 

relation between moral life, 

55 
Forgiveness, 93 

Generosity, 90 
Good-will, 90 
Gratitude, 93, 96 

Habits, evil, 95 

Health, 95 

Helpfulness, 89 

Home, 

importance of, lost, 8 
a question of agency, 36 
failure of, 38 
in physical life, 39 
in moral life, 39 

Honesty, 93 

Honor, 93, 94 

Humility, 94 

05] 



INDEX 



Ideas, 

individual versus universal, 
80 
Industry, 90, 96 
Influence, 

religious, 11 

classified, 11 
Instruction, 88 

moral, demand for, i 

moral, provision for, 2 

religious, 2 
how it may be given, TJ 

ethical, 8, 41 

in grammar school, 91 
fifth year, 92 
sixth year, 93 
seventh year, 94 
eighth year, 96 
Investigation, 

method of, 9 

material used, 10 

object of, 10 

collated results of, 12 

how classified, 12 

arrangement of results, 12 

results, 13 

conclusion, 16 

aim of, 16 

statement of, 98 

how conducted, 99 

results, grammar school boys, 

99 

results, students entering 
high school, 100 

results, students graduating 
from high school, loi 

results, students entering col- 
lege, 102 



Kindness, 89 



Language, bad, 96 
Life, 

physical, 54 

concepts of, 91 

social, 91 

poHtical, 91 

individual, 91 

city, its influences, 37 



Loyalty, 96 

Man and society, 82 

betterment of, 83 
Manners, relation between 
morals, 59 

good manners, 59, 87, 93, 94, 

95 
good manners related to 

physical control, 60 
good manners and success, 

60 
good manners, training in, 

60 
good manners, grouping of, 

61 
Method, 
of graphic representation, 13 
of obtaining per cent, 13 
of direct moral training, 7, 

41, 43, 44 
effect of, 44 
of indirect moral training, 8, 

41, 43, 45 
place of, 45 

advantage and disadvan- 
tage of, 46 
of combination methods of 

moral training, 8 
of incidental moral training, 
42 
effect of, 44 
Moral education, 
demand for, i 

trend of public sentiment, 3 
problem of, 5 
content of, 86 
materials of, 86 
periods of, 86 
Moral instruction, 
demand for, i 
provision for, 2 
content of, 86 
materials of, 86 
periods of, 86 
incidental, 2 
method of, 41 
direct, 41, 43, 44 
indirect, 41, 43 
incidental, 42, 45 
method versus results, 43 



[ 106] 



INDEX 



correlation of methods, 43 
teacher and, 48 
relation to higher form of 
spiritual life, 79 
Moral life, 55 
relation between food and 

sleep, 55 
social service and, 83 
Moral problem, 5, 8 
present tendency of, 5 
scientific investigation of, 9 
thrust upon school, 38, 39 
Moral thinkers, 

three classes of, 7 
Moral training, 

in public schools, 2 
in private schools, 2 
in the home, 2 
material success of, 3 
universal demand for, 3 
methods of, 7, 8, 41 
direct, 7 
indirect, 8 
combination, 8 
' in early life, 45 
recitation period of, 71 
relation to higher form of 
spiritual life, 79 
Moral weakness, its tendency, 6 
Morality and religion, 2 
rooted in religion, 78 
rewards and punishments, 78 
Morals, relation between man- 
ners and, 59 

Name, good, 95 
Nobility, 92 

Obedience, 89 

Patriotism, 90, 96 
Perseverance, 92 
Physical body, the, 54 
Physical life, 54 

results of, as shown by in- 
vestigation, 56 

safeguards the moral, 57 

statistical results, 57 

well-being of child, 55 

virtues and vices, 55 

[I 



Principles, in American civil- 
ization, 53 
Problem, moral, 5, 7 

scientific investigation of, 9 

thrust upon school, 38, 39 
Problem, public school, 

suggested solution of, 80 

plan explained, 81 
Promptness, 4 
Prudence, 95 
Punctuality, 89, 90 

Recitation, 

medium for moral instruc- 
tion, 6s 

formal nature of, 6s 

prominence given, 63 

judged from disciplinary- 
standpoint, 64 

wasted time in, 65 

criticisms of, 65 

object of, 65 

objects enumerated, 66 

used to secure ends, 66 

new order of, 67 

added responsibilities of, 67, 
86 

critical period of school day, 

to give experiences, 71 

period of pupil activity, 71, 
72, 73 

period of moral training, 74 

socializing of, 75 
Religion, 

influence, 11 

how classified, 11 

what religion is, 77 
Religion and morality, 2 

qualitative versus quantita- 
tive, 8 

remedies prescribed, 85 
Religious instruction, how it 

may be given, 79 
Respect, 90, 93 

for parents, 3 

for law, 3 

for authority, 3 
Responsibility, 90, 97 

neglect of, by home, 38, 39 

failure of, by home, 38 



07] 



INDEX 



Reverence, 93 



School, 
added responsibility of, 67, 

68 
instruction in grammar, 91 
fifth year, 92 
sixth year, 93 
seventh year, 94 
eighth year, 96 
public, supplementary to 

home, 2>7 
record of, 98 
Sunday, 36 
Self-control, 93, 94 
Self-respect, 94 
Society, 
its responsibility, 5, 67 
institutions provided by, 6 

their purpose, 6 
attitude toward public school, 

6 
usurps functions of home, 8, 

38 
man and, 83 
Social service, and moral life, 
83 



Study, courses of, 88 
Success and good manners, 60 
Sunday-school, 36 



Teacher, 

enthusiasm for subject, 49, 

knowledge of subject, 48, 49 

preparation of subject, 48 

mechanical, 49 

student of child life, 49 

exponent of own teaching, 50 

standard of, 51 
Temperance, 95 
Training, 88, 92,, 94, 95 

moral, in public school, 2 

moral, in private school, 2 

moral, in home, 2 

moral, method of, 7 

home, II, 13 

how classified, 11 
Truthfulness, 89 



Wealth, 7 
eftect upon youth, 6 



[108] 



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